Cinnamon
by Valenka
Summary: Trapped in a farmhouse surrounded by yet another zombie hoard. Well, 10K wouldn't have minded that had he been trapped with literally anyone but Alvin goddamn Murphy! Add in falling through a hay loft and the fact Murphy was being overly nice to him and 10K wondered if his sanity was in more danger than his life. Friends to lovers, Injured 10K, Set mid season 02, Lucy doesn't exist
1. Chapter 1

10K stomped ahead of Murphy keeping a quick pace with grumpiness radiating off of him like a furnace, rifle cradled in his arms. Murphy jogged along behind glancing back every thirty feet or so where he expected to find an army of Zs. About an hour ago the members of Delta X-ray Delta had run into one of the largest hoards they'd ever seen and quickly gotten separated, much to 10K's annoyance he'd gotten dumped with Murphy rather than Doc or... well, literally anyone else. The pair had no real idea where they were, all they knew was that West was their best option for meeting up with Warren and the others. Well, 10K had decided that was their best option, the blue man hadn't been much help; not that it was any big surprise. They could hear the hoard following, stalking, them, they had a decent lead on the Zs but it wasn't fantastic; too many for Murphy to control.

The sharpshooter and Murphy were out in the middle of nowhere, had hardly any water and wouldn't have had any food had Murphy not been snacking on a pack of beef jerky when they'd run into the Zs... they were screwed. The pair couldn't keep up the pace forever but then, like the voice of Gabriel, Murphy piped up.

"Hey kid, look over there."

He pointed North over a hill, 10K's eyes followed until he saw what looked to be the top of a barn.

"Looks like our best bet." Said 10K, he wanted to keep moving, find the others, but there was no way they'd make it. "Come on, shift your ass."

With that 10K stomped off leaving Murphy stood there grumbling.

"What? No 'thanks Murphy for finding shelter'? Nothing?"

"Nope." Was the only response the younger man gave.

He didn't want to chit-chat with Murphy – especially at that moment in time – and thankfully Murphy didn't push it; 10K really wasn't in the mood. When they reached the top of the slope the barn came into full view along with a small farmhouse, neither gave any indication anyone had been there in years and the pair almost raced towards it. Suddenly something crunched behind them and Murphy spun around just in time to see the first wave of the hoard appear.

"Blasters!" He yelled and 10K turned with rifle raised.

Just past Murphy stood three Blasters, he fired twice and took two out instantly, he was about to mercy the last when a fourth blindsided him and knocked him to the ground intent on ripping him apart. The Kid tried to reach for his knife but the Blaster was too strong, just when his arms threatened to give way a shot rang out followed closely by a second and the Z fell to the ground beside 10K missing most of it's head. The younger man looked up at the elder and Murphy held his hand out, a silent offer to help him up but 10K refused in favour of clambering to his feet by himself then snatched his rifle back.

"Don't touch my stuff!" He grumbled.

Murphy nodded to himself. "Sure, next time I'll just let the Blaster eat your privates as an appetizer before a main course of my brain."

10K ignored him and just trudged off towards the farmhouse with a sour look on his face in search of more Zs to kill. They both knew that if the Blasters had reached them then the rest of the hoard wouldn't be far behind, the house and barn would soon be surrounded.

"Don't worry, Warren and Doc won't leave us." Murphy said as he followed. "We'll meet up with them, promise."

The blue man didn't know why he was trying to comfort 10K but he didn't try to stop himself. 10K said nothing, just continued looking around until he decided to go and check out the barn. With a sigh Murphy went inside the house.

The air smelt stale and old, the farmhouse had been void of inhabitants for years, maybe since day one. The sun had started to set witch cast shadows almost everywhere that just made the farmhouse look eerie and as though something would jump out at them any second... it was the apocalypse so that wasn't really anything new. Stairs were the first thing that met Murphy and 10K when they entered the house followed by a large archway that lead to a living area and on into the kitchen, the walls were all an off white color accented with dark wood; Murphy didn't like it while 10K was indifferent. Murphy trudged along behind the younger man and had almost zoned out until 10K pulled the basement door open only to have an abnormally large Z launch at him, he smacked it in the face with the but of his gun then forced his knife into its skull. With a grunt the kid kicked it back into the basement where it landed with a thud.

"I'm gonna go check out the barn." Said 10K before throwing a flashlight at him and leaving Murphy stood there in the long hallway.

Murphy sighed but decided to head down into the basement rather than following the younger man as he had been doing, he clicked on the flashlight and made his way down into the basement. He found a mass of shelves filled with cans and boxes... an entire case of energy drinks; Murphy grinned.

"Jackpot!"

There was more food down there than Murphy had seen since before he went to prison, suddenly the blue man remembered a crumpled duffel bag by the couch so shot back up the stairs to grab it, sure enough the bag was empty and Murphy made to head back down but stopped dead when he heard a god awful scream. 10K. He dropped the bag and charged out the front door to the barn so fast he almost ran face first into a tractor, sure enough the fist of the hoard had just started to appear over the hill and if they weren't in the house fast they'd have a serious problem. Amidst the hay and old farm tools was 10K laying on his back his rifle off to his side as he gripped his leg in agony, face contorted.

"Christ, kid!" Murphy dropped to his knees beside the boy, eyes glanced up to the hole where he'd clearly fallen through the hay loft. He put a hand on 10K's chest when he tried to stand. "No, you'll make it worse." He'd planned to say more but the Z the dark-haired kid had been after chose that moment to appear. "Go away!" Murphy commanded and she obeyed.

With a sigh Murphy reached across 10K to grab his rifle and handed it to him then tried to slip his arms under 10K's knees, the boy stopped him with a harsh glare.

"I can walk."

Murphy smirked. "No, you can't or you'd have done it already."

The younger man was forced to let Murphy pick him up bridal style, either 10K was lighter than he'd realised or if Murphy was stronger than he though he didn't know and in all honesty it wasn't that important. The sun had almost completely set leaving just a sliver of red-yellow on the horizon, had they not been surrounded by brain hungry zombies they'd have found it quite beautiful. Murphy rushed back into the farmhouse and set 10K down on the beige couch before going back to slam the front door shut and pulled a heavy side table out to use as a barricade; just in case anymore Blasters came knocking.

10K continued to hiss in pain, brow furrowed and lungs panting. It was almost pitch black in the house now the sun was gone but Murphy had learnt to work in little to no light after being pulled across country by Hammond. The bearded man tugged 10K's pant leg up to reveal his ankle and carefully pulled off the boy's boot, 10K hissed in pain. The ankle was already bruised and earn a yelp from 10K when Murphy traced his fingers along his skin.

"Sorry." Said Murphy without looking up, voice quiet. "I don't think it's broken though, just badly sprained."

"How would you know?" Demanded the younger man as the sounds of zombie growls reached them.

"Ahh, I was always sick as a kid, caught everything and when I wasn't sick I'd broken something." Murphy told him truthfully. "Trust me, it's not broke. Did you hit your head?"

"Don't think so."

"Still, don't go to sleep. Stay awake."

"Yes Murphy, I know." The sharpshooter growled, adrenaline clearly still coursing through his veins.

Murphy didn't bother snapping back or arguing with the boy, just lifted him back into his arms and carefully carried him upstairs, every second of which 10K hated but he knew he couldn't do it himself. The bearded man sat him down on the bed of the master bedroom – which actually wasn't that large – then grabbed a pillow and set it under the boy's foot once he'd pulled his sock off.

"Keep it elevated, okay?" Murphy sat his hands on his hips. "You need ice but we haven't got a hope in hell of getting you any. I'll see if I can find something to use as a compress." He turned to leave but stopped and turned back just before he reached for the door handle. " _Don't_ go to sleep."

"I won't, geesh!"

Murphy said nothing, just pulled the thick green curtains shut then started to root about the cupboards and draws, he'd noticed countless candle holders and little jars with dead tea lights in them so guessed there were several stashes of candles dotted about the house. Sure enough, after a few moments of search Murphy came across what could only be described as a treasure trove of the things, little red tea lights, some larger white candles; perfect. He grabbed the black lighter form across the room and smiled when he found it still worked before setting the things up and lighting them. 10K had always liked candlelight, there was something homely and comforting about the soft orange glow, but there was no way in hell he was going to tell Murphy that.

Thankfully Murphy left after that leaving 10K alone, his peaceful quiet punctuated only by the occasional growl or his of the Zs that surrounded them. The dark-haired man hated himself for being so careless. _Stupid! Stupid! Stupid!_ He'd gone up into the hay loft to kill a Z, of course he'd fallen though the floor... followed a few moments later by the female zombie. Now he couldn't walk, how was Doc, Warren and the others going find them in this now?

He could hear Murphy moving around downstairs, he'd stop every now and again before the footfalls started to sound once more. 10K hated that Murphy had to help him but at the same time was begrudgingly grateful that he had... and so readily. Alvin Murphy came across as a self-absorbed douchebag – and he was – but even 10K couldn't deny that Murphy always did his best to help the group when things got serious. He and Warren were better friends than they admitted even to themselves and Doc could always relate to the blue man. None of that made Murphy a 'good' person but maybe he was less of a dick than 10K had always believed. He'd seen the look on the older man's face when Cassandra had died – when 10K had killed her – Murphy had cared about her in his own way. Didn't make what he'd done to her right though! Maybe Murphy deserved more open-mindedness... or maybe the pain had just made 10K delirious.

After about thirty minutes Murphy re-entered the room carrying a tray with two bowls of soup and what looked to be tea, 10K's rifle was tucked under his arm and the boy had never been so happy to see it . No one had made the boy dinner since his Pa died. Even more surprising than the food was the genuine expression of care on Murphy's blue face, so much so that it actually confused the younger man. Murphy sat the tray down over 10K's lap before seating himself on the bed so as he faced the boy, he took his own bowl and started to eat slowly. Only after a few mouthfuls and seeing that 10K ate as well did Murphy break the candle lit silence.

"There's dozens of soup cans down in that basement, vegetable, mushroom, pea and ham. I like the tomato the best though, simple and filling. Shame there's no bread."

Murphy carried on like that while they ate their warming dinner, trying to make conversation but thanks to 10K's say little nature and intense dislike of the older man it was difficult. However, Murphy persisted and eventually they fell into an awkward conversation in which Murphy – as usual – did most of the talking. There topics were just stupid little ones like why Murphy loved suits so much and that the man was actually very good at math, not that good since he'd been locked up for postal fraud.

"Hey, you think it's anywhere near December?" Murphy asked as he ran a finger around the rim of his soup bowl.

"I don't know. Probably not." That was more than likely the most 10K had said during their entire conversation.

"Good, you've still got time to get me birthday presents." Murphy chuckled in jest.

Their chit-chat stumbled back into unimportance again after than and only after the bowls were empty, tea gone and it became obvious 10K had taken all he could take of Murphy's incessant talking did the bearded man gather everything up and head back downstairs. 10K hadn't shown any signs of a concussion and there wasn't a single indication he'd actually hit his head so Murphy thought it safe to let the boy sleep.

Once in the kitchen Murphy dumped the bowls and cups in the skin, no point washing them, it wasn't like they were going to take crockery with them. He could tell the farmhouse was essentially surrounded by Zs at this point but was thankful there weren't any more Blasters; Murphy couldn't cope with many more of those bastards.

To keep himself occupied Murphy finished filling the bag he'd found with the food in the basement then zipped it shut and sat it at the bottom of the stairs to take up with him the next time he went, it didn't take long, maybe twenty minutes.

It was obvious now that 10K wouldn't be able to leave the house to meet up with the rest of Delta X-ray Delta but that didn't matter, Doc would make sure they came looking for the boy he loved like a son. They'd just have to be patient and sit it out.

When pacing the living room grew tiresome Murphy shuffled over to the large bookshelf that faced the now useless TV and looked through it. He'd done a lot of reading in prison, even worked in the library for a short time. The people who'd lived there were clearly sci-fi and romance fans because he couldn't find a single tome that didn't fall into one of those two categories, he did find a copy of Rebecca which he'd taken from the prison library when he'd run out of interesting things to read. Under the books were a line of DVDs and CDs that Murphy had to crouch down to see properly.

"God, you people really had terrible taste in music." He muttered to himself absent-mindedly, then a few moments later he sneered. "Calender Girls? Really? Okay, now I'm glad whoever lived here is dead."

He dropped the film as though it were a biohazard, which was saying something considering he was basically a walking one. When he'd been through the movies Murphy meandered around for a while opening all the draws more out of curiosity for what was inside than searching for supplies. There were some boardgames and a chess set – a game he'd not played in years – but nothing overly interesting. After a while he grew bored and slumped down onto the beige couch with a huff. He undid his collar and loosened his tie, every now and again a Z would bump into the house or the barn but nothing that caused concern, the farmhouse had been a God send. Murphy ignored the nose for the most part, the doors were barricaded and the only light was in 10K's room which he'd made sure the zombies couldn't see from outside.

Only when his eyes started to wander around the room and his fingers drummed on the couch did Murphy spot the card deck underneath the glass coffee table, with a small smile he reached for it, finally something he could amuse himself with. That was how the game of Solitaire started. The game went on with no sign of any more Blasters or that the hoard of zombies was growing to a level they need be concerned about, as long as the pair stayed quiet and kept the light to a minimum they'd be fine. Murphy was good but he couldn't control that many Zs. Hopefully by morning the dead would have wandered off and they could plan their next move.

Keeping watch was _really_ boring, the Zs were nothing to worry about, he didn't really feel any fear from the dead now, not like at the beginning; just an annoyance. After his seventeenth game – or maybe it was his eighteenth – Murphy decided he'd had enough and lounged on the couch intent on resting his eyes for a moment but of course he fell asleep. Some time later – he had no idea how much later later was – Murphy awoke and for a few seconds he'd got no idea why, at first he thought another Z had bumped into the house or maybe a Blaster trying to break down the barricade but no, all was well. The bearded man ran a large hand over his face in an attempt to force sleep away when he heard it again, it took him a minute or so but he eventually realised the sound was coming from upstairs.

Carefully he rose to his feet and quietly made his way up the stairs, he kept his place slow avoiding any creaky steps as he continued to listen. The noise – grumbles and what could only be described as fussle – came from the room he'd left 10K in, inside he found 10K asleep but in the throes of a nightmare. Candles had died off hours ago and had scented the room with wisps smoke. The boy threw himself around the bed, if he wasn't careful he'd hurt his ankle more, and he kept muttering to himself; words like 'no' and 'Pa'. Murphy had heard 10K speak about his father before but frankly he'd never really listened, it had felt rude considering he'd always been talking to Doc and not Murphy. The little mews sounded so innocent and adorable. Murphy hoped that the kid would settle down but after at least two minutes of just standing there watching the boy tossing about it became clear that settling down wasn't in the plan. Shame, Murphy thought that 10K looked so peaceful when he slept. If the kid made much more noise he'd start to draw the Z's attention and they couldn't have that.

Expecting this to end with a knife to his throat, Murphy walked over and tried to wake 10K with a gentle shake of his shoulder... it didn't work, 10K's dream had too much of a grip on him. He sighed, this was totally going to end with a knife to his throat. The bearded man sat himself down on the bed to the left of 10K with his back to the door and calmly raked his hand through 10K's jet black locks, it was far softer than he'd imagined and Murphy couldn't help but smile when the boy relaxed into his touch. Murphy himself actually found it comforting which was a little odd since he was trying to comfort 10K not himself. It almost shocked Murphy when he caught himself smiling, a true smile he'd almost forgotten he was capable of. However, when he went to pull the covers back over him 10K tensed which had Murphy frozen in an instant.

"What the hell are you doing?" The younger man practically growled.

Murphy yanked his hand away as though it were ablaze.

"... you were having a nightmare about your Dad, kid. Thrashing about and everything." He said in that deep voice of his. "I was trying to get you to calm down before the Zs heard you or you hurt your ankle any more than you already have."

10K didn't look convinced.

"Were you going to bite me?" The younger man shuffled away from him, pillow balling behind his head.

"What? No, of course not!" Murphy was actually offended. His brow furrowed. "God, kid, you were having a fucking nightmare and I wanted to help. Sorry I bothered."

With that Murphy stomped out of the bedroom and trudged down the stairs. 10K lay there in silence for a time, Murphy had been so sad when Cassandra had died, he'd expected the man to be annoyed his plaything was gone but feel little else; obviously that hadn't happened. Maybe Murphy had only intended to help Cassandra, Murphy wasn't a scientist, he was a criminal, he couldn't know what his bite would do to her. Sometimes 10K wondered if he was too harsh on Murphy and other days he just wanted to shoot him in the smug face. He had no intention of going to apologise to the man, couldn't even if he'd wanted to, so with little else to do 10K forced himself back into slumber hoping his nightmare wouldn't return.


	2. Chapter 2

The next morning 10K awoke to Murphy knocking on the white bedroom door. The sharpshooter blinked rapidly before rubbing a hand over his face to banish the remnants of sleep before he indulged in sleep.

"10K, you up?" He asked as he shuffled into the room carrying the tray again with breakfast; God he missed pancakes.

10K's brow furrowed as he watched Murphy set the tray down on his lap, if rolls were reversed 10K would never have bothered going to all this effort for Murphy, he'd have just thrown a pack of something at him and left in search of zombies to shoot. Maybe the blue man just had a really good bedside manner. The older man set the wooden tray down in 10K's lap and again sat down to eat with him just like the night before though this meal is far faster than the last. However, there was more tea, odd without any milk but the warming liquid was still nice.

"I still hear zombies." Said 10K as he sipped at his tea.

"Yeah, they've not cleared like we hoped. I think they're a really spread out herd, that's why there are so many but not enough to bring down the house like at that casino. Don't know how long we're gonna have to camp out here, kid." Murphy set his empty cup back on the tray.

"We need to find the others." 10K was adamant.

"Uh-uh, nope. You can't walk and I can't carry you that far. Warren, Addy and the rest will just have to come find us."

"But-" Murphy cut him off.

"No, we don't have any other bloody options, 10K. I know you wanna get back to Doc but don't go being stupid."

"Fine." 10K relented with a defeated expression.

The boy knew that Murphy was right, if he tried to travel he'd just make things worse for his ankle. Rather than argue 10K tossed off the blanket and spun around so as his legs dangled off the edge of the bed. Murphy was up and around the bed to face him in an instant.

"Whoa, what are you doing, 10K?"

The younger man looked up at Murphy with an expression that just said _really?_

"I need to pee." He stated quickly.

Murphy sighed and glanced around the room for a moment or two before he began to speak. "Well, I guess you can use the bathroom." His yellow tinted orbs flashed up to the white door.

"There's no plumbing." The boy pointed out with a furrowed brow. "That's gross."

"We'll just keep the door shut. I'm not lugging bottles of your piss about. That's gross. Now, lean on me."

10K couldn't decide if this was the most embarrassing moment of his life or the most annoying. With a huff, 10K let Murphy help him up and to hobble into the – surprisingly clean – bathroom. The bearded man positioned himself so he faced the door to give the idea of privacy.

"I don't want you listening to me pee, Murphy." 10K hissed.

Murphy rolled his eyes. "Oh for the love of God, what are you six? Just piss."

The boy grumbled under his breath but eventually realised it was best to just get it over with and make things easier on both of them. Once 10K was finished Murphy just lifted him into his strong arms rather than bothering with the struggle of him walking back to the bed.

"Why do you smell like cinnamon?" Asked 10K, brow furrowed.

"Hmm? Oh, I was looking though the stuff I found in the basement and the cinnamon kind of blew up on me. I got covered."

"It's horrid." 10K rubbed at his nose trying to force the smell away. "I hate cinnamon."

"Yeah," Murphy breathed "I'll keep that in mind next time I get doused in spices."

The blue man set 10K down on the bed and the boy actually mourned the loss of the other person's warmth, even if that person was Murphy. He tried not to let it get to him but 10K was touch starved.

"I want to go down stairs." The younger man blurted when he realised a silence had been hanging between them.

"Stay up here a little longer, yeah? Just to rest your leg. It's sprained but without any ice or anything to use as a compress rest is the best option. I'm still looking for bandages.

 _Why does Murphy care?_ 10K's mind questioned.

"There's nothing for me to do."

"Read a book, take a nap. There's loads of books down stairs, I'll bring you some to look at, 10K."

"No, I-"

The boy cut himself off, his eyes cast down to his lap. Murphy raised an eyebrow.

"What? Kid, I know you can read so what's the-"

"Of course I can read!" 10K snapped before letting out a sigh and staring at his lap again. "It's just... it's hard. I can read short signs and notices but books are harder. I'm dyslexic."

Murphy rested his hands on his hips.

"That's nothing to be ashamed of, if you keep reading you'll get better. I'll grab you something and you can practice."

10K wanted to stop him but the tall man was already gone. Being dyslexic was why 10K had always gravitated to being in the wilds so much, there wasn't any reading out in the woods. Not even Doc knew he was dyslexic, it wasn't like he had been hiding it, just that it had never really come up what with the apocalypse and all.

It tool about ten minutes for Murphy to return, a stack of paperback books in one hand and a glass – an actually clean glass – of water in the other.

"Drink slowly." Murphy informed the younger man as he set the glass down. "We don't have that much water left." 10K nodded, he doubted Addy, Doc and the rest of Delta X-ray Delta had that much either. "Got you some books to take a look at, most of the stuff here is sci-fi or romance so I just grabbed a selection." He tossed them onto the bed beside the dark-haired boy. "You like like this one though." Murphy pointed to a thicker book on the top. "Yeah, it's more pages than the others but it's the only fantasy book down there and it is fairly easy to follow. I've read it before, it's quite good."

"Thanks." Said 10K, he didn't know why Murphy was going to so much trouble for him.

Murphy could have been mistaken of course, but that might have been the first time since entering the farm that 10K hadn't growled or snapped at him.

"You're welcome, kid. I'll leave you alone, I want to see how many Zs I can get to wander off."

Thinning them out while they could sounded good. As 10K reached for the book Murphy threw an 'I'll check on you later' over his shoulder and vanished out of the room. The novel was indeed thick but he got the feeling Murphy had actually thought about this for him. And why the hell was Murphy being son nice to him?! 10K looked over the book: _The Name Of The Wind._ 10K had never heard of it and wasn't wind just called wind?

It had been a long time since he'd really read anything and it was harder than he remembered, he kept stopping and starting, paused when he found himself irritated. However, he'd expected Murphy to make fun of him and he hadn't, 10K was grateful for that. Murphy had also been right that if he just kept at it he'd find it slowly getting easier and improve.

Several hours past and 10K made it through what he thought was a decent chunk of the novel. He liked the plot, a young boy who had lost his family and was forced to make his way through a world that didn't make sense, a band of friends from all walks of life... Murphy had chosen well. He read so long that 10K actually forgot about the dead walking around just outside the farmhouse. He hated to admit it but Murphy had been right, just sitting there and reading was nice. Speaking of Murphy, the older man had said he'd check on 10K but he'd never returned to the bedroom, the sharpshooter had no doubt that he'd gotten distracted by something entirely unimportance or maybe he'd taken his own advice and found a book to read... or maybe he'd left 10K and run off into the sunset with all the food. No, 10K would have heard Murphy move the barricade at the front door and if he was going to run he'd have done it by now. Maybe Murphy had fallen asleep. _Why do I care where he's gone?_ 10K decided not to think about it and went back to his book.

Just before the sun started to set on their second day in the farmhouse footfalls sounded coming up the stairs and then there was a knock and Murphy came in... with what looked to be a crutch.

"Hey, 10K, got you a present."

"Where the hell did you find that?" The younger man asked as Murphy made his way over to the bed.

"Didn't. I made it." 10K raised an eyebrow. "I managed to get over to the barn from the back door, there's wood and nails in there so I hauled some stuff up into the hay loft – careful not to fall through it – and set to work. Turns out prison wood shop paid off after all." There was a momentary pause. "Look, it ain't pretty but It'll help you move around."

"Yeah. Thank you, Murphy."

10K actually meant that and if he wasn't mistaken the older man's eyes lit up at that simple display of gratitude.

"I'll get us dinner, it'll be dark soon. Gonna be soup again but what do you want? Vegetable, ham and pea, mushroom or tomato? Your choice, kid."

10K thought for a moment, neither of them was used to eating this regularly.

"Vegetable. I've never found the idea of eating fungus appealing."

Murphy smiled. "Clearly you've never had magic mushrooms. Give me a few."

With that the tall man was gone once more only this time he left the door open so 10K could see down the stairs. He set aside his book in favour of the crutch, it was pretty rudimentary and wasn't winning any glamour awards but it was functional, 10K was still surprised Murphy had gone to such trouble for him. Although, at least he could get to the bathroom by himself now and that was exactly what he did because 10K _really_ needed to pee. Getting there and back was a little awkward but he managed it without falling flat on his ass.

It had been such a long time since the kid had slept in such a soft and comfy so 10K decided to enjoy it while he could, the boy went back to his book, the book he was actually enjoying reading. A short time later Murphy returned once again with the tray in his large hands. This was the first time 10K had though of Murphy as something other than an absolute dick. The blue man lit a candle then crashed down onto th bed.

The younger man shuffled across the bed so as Murphy could sit next to him rather than perching on the edge of the mattress awkwardly. After a few moments and a couple mouths of soup, Murphy spoke.

"Alright, go on, kid."

10K raised an eyebrow, soup spoon less than an inch form his lips, Murphy thought it adorable.

"'Go on' what?"

"Read obviously." Remarked the elder man.

"No."

"Yes. Come on, show off your mad skills." Murphy grinned.

Deep down 10K knew Murphy was doing this to help him but that didn't stop him feeling embarrassed. It took several minutes and many encouragements from the blue man but 10K did eventually start to read.

" _I learned the sordid inner workings of the royal court in Modeg from a . . . cou...cort-_ "

Murphy cut him off. "Sound it out, that will, that's the easiest thing to do."

10K nodded to himself.

" _Cort... courtesan. As my father used to say: 'Call a jack a jack. Call a spade a spade. But always call a whore a lady. Their lives are hard enough, and it never hurts to be polite.' Hetera smelled vaguely of cinnamon,"_ 10K paused at that for a split second thinking of Murphy carrying him earlier " _and at nine years old I found her fascinating without exactly knowing why. She taught me I should never do anything in private that I didn't want talked about in public, and cautioned me to not talk in my sleep."_

Once 10K had found a natural pace he hardly needed any help, maybe he was better at this than he thought he was. The younger man only stopped when he heard light snores coming from beside him, sure enough when 10K looked down Murphy was fast asleep on the bed, his arms folded across his chest. He actually looked peaceful. His snores were hardly audible and 10K realised just how dark it had gotten outside. He could have kicked Murphy out of the bed onto the hardwood floor and tell him to go and sleep wherever he went last night but that would have only started an argument that 10K wasn't in the mood for so he set the book down on the side table, blew out the candle and lay on his side – as best he could what with his ankle – and closed his eyes. 10K was asleep almost instantly. It would have been best to have someone on watch but 10K was a light sleeper and would hear anyone who tried to get in and also, if the Zs hadn't gotten in by now it seemed unlikely they would.

 **XXXXThe novel quoted is 'The Name Of The Wind' by Patrick Rothfuss, the first book in the Kingkiller Chronicles. (Also it would be nice if he'd finish the goddamn trilogy!)**


	3. Chapter 3

When Murphy awoke he resisted opening his eyes for a moment, he forgot the apocalypse ever happened. A warm body was wrapped up in his ars, head rested against his chest, a soft pillow to rest his head on, pleasure purring through his body... _wait_ . His eyes flew open to find 10K snaked around him, practically on top of him and to top things off he was hard as a goddanm rock! The blue man longed to thrust his erection into the thigh 10K had thrown over him, longed for the friction, especially when he looked down at the boy his hair everywhere and breathing light. God, 10K was beautiful. Murphy resisted the urge though and to ever so carefully extracted himself 10K and flee downstairs.

"Bloody hell, that boy's going to be the death of me." Murphy muttered as he fled the room.

The second the door closed 10K's big blue eyes snapped open and he sat bolt upright in the bed. He'd been lying there with Murphy unconsciously rubbing himself against his thigh, he'd tried to separate them at first but Murphy had just gripped him tighter, 10K had debated just shoving the bearded man away but he couldn't take how awkward that would have made things, especially when Murphy's motions were making him hard as well. Then the man had started to stir and 10K had just pretended to still be asleep, he'd not known what else to do. '… that boy's going to be the death of me.' The sentence kept spinning around the kid's head.

"What the hell does that mean?" He asked himself quietly.

He'd threatened to kill Murphy before but this was different, like waking up hard because of 10K wasn't anything new. If it wasn't how did 10K feel about that? _Murphy's straight,_ muttered his mind, _isn't he?_ Truth be told he knew very little about the older man, maybe he was gay. Or maybe 10K was over-thinking everything and it was just a natural reaction to being snuggled up to another living person. Yes, that had to be it, nothing else.

Meanwhile Murphy had fled downstairs and crashed down onto the couch.

"That God the kid's still asleep."

He strained against his pants, longed to do something about it but Murphy knew he shouldn't. It still felt like violating 10K but he couldn't help it – never could – with raging needed Murphy pulled open his pants and gave in to his body's desires.

XXXX

10K had expected Murphy to come up with breakfast like the last few days but instead Murphy just shot into the room, gave him a tray and left again; the whole encounter took less then fifteen seconds. 10K had never seen Murphy so awkward and frankly 10K thought it cute. The boy hadn't seen Murphy after that, he could hear him wandering around downstairs but that was it.

After he finished his breakfast – he felt like a king what with eating so regularly – 10K looked over to the rudimentary crutch Murphy had made for him, he was sick of just laying there in bed; it wasn't right. Carefully 10K got out of bed and used his crutch to move around to get used to having to balance, two crutches would have been better but 10K wasn't going to complain. When the boy had gotten his bearings and knew he'd not fall flat on his face 10K made his way out of the bedroom door. There was only one other room on the second floor beside the bathroom as well as an attic hatch above his head, it might have allowed the to see outside for miles if they could get up there, well, if Murphy could get up there.

10K pushed the bedroom door open, the bed – that Murphy had slept in only once – was a mess of covers and the duffel bag of food sat on the chest at the bottom of the bed. Clearly this was where Murphy had set up shop so to speak. The bathroom was empty, looked as though Murphy had already cleared it out of anything even remotely useful, the paint had started to peel and turned a horrid yellow color. Slowly and carefully 10K left the bathroom and made his way downstairs to find Murphy sat on the floor by the coffee table with his back rested against the beige couch trying to break into a green security box.

"What are you doing?" Asked the younger man as he sat down on the couch and rested the crutch against it.

"Isn't it obvious?" Murphy wiggled the box – no larger than an A4 piece of paper – at the boy. "I found this last night in the kitchen, something is in it and whoever lived here doesn't need it anymore." A pause, brief and hardly there. "A guy called Duane taught me to pick a lock when I was locked up but I'm a bit rusty."

"I don't know how to do that." 10K told the older man softly and Murphy looked up with a raised eyebrow... and what was that sparkle in his eyes.

"Really? Thought you would have been a pro." 10K just shook his head before Murphy started speaking again. "Give e some tie to remember and I'll teach you, yeah?"

That actually sounded fun which surprised him, and in the apocalypse lock picking was a very handy skill.

"Okay."

"Got it!"

Murphy exclaimed as he yanked the box open. Inside he found a set of keys for God only knew what, forty dollars cash and nothing else.

Murphy sighed. "Well that was anti-climactic."

The blue man tossed it all onto the coffee table and moved to sit on the couch. It was only then that 10K noticed how dishevelled Murphy looked but he didn't want to say anything.

"What do you think the keys are for?" Asked the younger man.

"Don't know, 10K, probably the tractor in the barn or they could be spare car keys to a long gone car. Either way they're certainly vehicle keys."

"Guess it doesn't matter. Anything else down here of interest?"

"Nah, not really." Murphy leaned back on the couch, he looked up at the boy and for a split second there was a pause; 10K had no idea what it meant. "Just the food and the box. Oh and some seriously questionable DVDs."

That actually made 10K smile.

"What about the Zs?" He asked as he glanced over at the window.

"They thinned out a little yesterday, that's why I managed to make it to the barn but I checked earlier and I think there are actually more of them. We're not going anywhere any time soon. Sorry kid, but you have to hang out with my pretty blue mug a little while longer."

Murphy offered him a smile, not one of those smug grins he was famous for but a real smile, 10K had never seen that from the older man before.

"You know how to play poker?" Murphy asked all of a sudden, the book shook his head no.

"I can play 'Go Fish'."

Murphy chuckled. "Of course you can. Alright, 'Go Fish' it is."

With that Murphy promptly got his ass handed to him at the end of every game which had 10K lighting up and it was so beautiful, the boy needed to smile more often. Murphy hadn't realised he was _that_ bad at 'Go Fish'. Every now and again a Z would bump into the house and disturb their games but 10K steadily got used to it while Murphy hadn't seemed to notice them.

"You know-" Murphy began after several games. "- I've never seen you without that rifle of yours."

"Never gone this long without needing it. And it's a bit heavy for me while on a crutch."

"Oh I think you can handled a nice big gun, 10K."

 _Was that a euphemism? Is Murphy making jokes?_ Seemed the blue man had realised what he'd said and instantly backtracked.

"Do you know how to play any other card games? I'm getting my ass kicked here."

"Em, I can play 'Gin Rummy'. Me and Pa used to play that all the time."

"Okay, guess you'll kick my ass at that too then."

Despite his minor grumblings Murphy dealt out the cards. They played for a time and Murphy found he could actually hold his own. After about thirty minutes 10K finally spoke.

"Is this all we're gonna do today, Murphy?"

"What else is there?" The older man asked without looking up from his cards. "I've been through the whole place and grabbed anything worthwhile already. We can't leave and it's too early for dinner. Nice eating every morning and night, think I'm getting fat though." 10K didn't say anything on that, he'd felt enough of Murphy that morning to know he wasn't fat. Murphy finally looked up. "Why? You got plans?"

"Well, there's an attic hatch. Thought you could take a look, it might let us up onto the roof and give us some idea of how big the hoard actually is. Or there could be some useful stuff up there."

Murphy set his cards down. "Kid, it's not a video game, I'm not going to go up there and find duct tape and a can of beans."

10K smiled. "You don't know until you look."

The boy had a point. After a few seconds Murphy relented.

"I had nothing anyway."

He gathered the cards back into a pile before standing and heading upstairs with 10K not too far behind. When they got to the top of the stairs the two men just stood there staring up at the attic hatch directly outside 10K's bedroom door.

"Alright, here goes nothing. Let's take a look."

Murphy pulled the attic ladder down then flashed the younger man a grin.

"Wish me luck." With that he scurried up the ladder into the darkness of the attic space.

"Anything?" 10K asked when Murphy didn't say anything for a good three minutes.

"Darkness. It's bloody pitch black up here, kid. Santa Clause could be up here and I wouldn't know."

10K resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead went into his room to grab his flashlight from his pack and tossed it up to Murphy who let out a small 'that's better'. All went quiet again while Murphy investigated, 10K leaned heavily on his crutch.

"There are more boxes up here than a bloody box factory! Just old clothes and crap. Can't get up on the roof either, sorry, 10K."

10K sighed, he'd not really expected much but they could have done with seeing just how many zombies surrounded them.

"Ooh, hold on, hold the hell on!"

10K only had to wait a few moments before Murphy shuffled back down the ladder clearly pleased with himself. Murphy had a bottle if what looked to be scotch in his hand. Suddenly they stopped dead when they realised just how close they were standing, Murphy was only about three inches taller than 10K but it still felt like the blue man towered over him when he was that close. Murphy just looked at him, eyes raked over every bit of the younger man and 10K didn't know what to make of that. He still smelt of cinnamon. 10K licked his lips. _Did I just lick my goddamn lips?!_ Murphy cleared his throat and everything kicked back into gear.

"Something to drink with dinner. There's an old case of it up there, like someone didn't want the wife to know. This the only bottle left though."

"Maybe."

10K didn't know why he said that, possibly because he was still focused on his internal thoughts. _Am I breathing heavier?_ For just a moment 10K forgot about his ankle, but it was just enough to send a hiss of pain through him and have the younger man stumbling to the ground, impact never came though because Murphy dropped the bottle and caught the boy in his strong arms.

"You okay?" There was genuine concern in Murphy's voice.

"Yeah, thanks." He noticed that fortunately the bottle hadn't broken. "You're being very helpful for a man who hates me."

Murphy's brow furrowed. "I don't hate you. You hate me but I don't hate you."

10K was actually shocked. "You don't?"

"No." Murphy shook his head. "Of course not. I like you more than most of the others."

The dark-haired boy hadn't expected that. Part of the reason he hated Murphy so much was because the feeling was mutual, turned out he'd been wrong. Thinking about it though it was obvious, if Murphy hated him he'd have never gone to the trouble of making him a crutch or bringing him breakfast and dinner, or even helped him to move around so much. For just a half second it looked as though Murphy was leaning in but then he pushed the ladder back into place and picked up the bottle.

"I'll put this with the bag, you should sit down and give yourself some rest." Murphy didn't wait for a comment, just headed into his room.

10K didn't know what was happening any longer, it was almost like they'd fallen into a parallel universe the second they'd entered the house. The sharpshooter was sick of being in bed despite it being so comfy and inviting so he made his way back down to the living room and sat on the couch. Looking around 10K found he actually liked the farmhouse, it was peaceful and quiet – or at least it would have been without the mass of Zs outside. - he liked the isolation as well. Murphy had probably had enough by now though, he was a people person, charismatic and witty, he'd be at home in some huge gated community surrounded by people. There he'd thrive. 10K and the blue man were on opposite ends of the spectrum, one and introvert, one a clear extrovert. Maybe that was why they butted heads so much.

It took much longer than it should have for Murphy to make his way downstairs but when he finally did he found 10K peeking out of the window o get a look at the dead.

10K sighed. "How many of these things are there?"

Murphy peered through the window over his head, he was close, almost too close.

"Don't know, 10K, probably about ninety-nine percent of what was the human population of America."

"What happens when there aren't any people left for them to eat?" The boy asked absent-mindedly.

Murphy chuckled. "That's not going to happen, you'll out live us all, Warren included. You're going to die of old age on a hill somewhere shooting zombies."

10K didn't know what to think about that, dying of old age was a luxury hardly anyone got any longer.

"What about you?"

He felt Murphy's warmth drift away with that question, 10K almost mourned the loss. The older man went to sit on the couch and sighed deeply. Finally the younger man left the window and sat back down.

"We all know I'm gonna go out one of two ways, kid." Said Murphy sorrowfully. Either I'll get killed by the dam scientists trying to cure whoever is left or I'm going to go full Z and one of you is going to put me down. If it's option two I want it to be you or Warren that mercys me."

10K was confused. "Why?"

"Because Warren will make it quick and you actually want to kill me."

An awkward pause hung between them for a few seconds before Murphy slapped his hands on his thighs and rose to his feet.

"I need to piss, back in a few."

10K watched the older man leave the room, he was starting to realise that Murphy wasn't the an he thought. He was more... just more. 10K had never thought how terrified Murphy must have been, he'd been bitten eight times and wasn't allowed to die. He was the only one to survive a Z bite, the only one who had to live with the memory of that agony, of watching flesh ripped away. Was it any wonder Murphy acted the way he did? 10K had no idea how he would have coped in Murphy's place. Then there was what Murphy had actually said, he obviously wanted to live but had resigned himself to death. The blue man saw himself as a dead man walking, who no one would miss and who would miss him? Warren and Addy only tolerated him because he was the mission, Doc might from time to time when he got high. Mac, Garnett and Cassandra weren't in a position to miss anyone any longer. Vasquez treated Murphy like he was little more than cattle at times, herding him across the country. And what about 10K himself? He'd be glad Murphy was gone... wouldn't he?


	4. Chapter 4

When Murphy returned to the Living room he kindly offered to grab 10K's book which the younger man had quickly accepted, he still didn't quite know how to react to Murphy's comment. Thankfully they spoke no more of it and 10K was handed his book before Murphy wandered off again after he'd muttered something about giving the attic a second look over; why that was necessary 10K didn't know. Murphy seemed to be avoiding their previous topic of conversation as much as the sharpshooter was, maybe he'd found it awkward as well. The dark-haired boy heard him upstairs doing something but didn't bother to go ask exactly what, just read his book and tried to forget what Murphy had told him.

After a while Murphy came back down the stairs and through the archway into the living room with a smile on his face, it was only when 10K noticed something strange in his peripheral vision that he looked up. An eyebrow instantly raised.

"What are you wearing?" He asked in puzzlement.

Murphy's smile grew. "It's a colonial frock coat, found it in a box in the attic. I think whoever lived her were renactors or at least related to some. What do you think?"

Frankly 10K thought he looked like a redcoat, then again that was probably what the coat had been made for, whoever had worn this took on the role of a British soldier for the War of Independence. Strangely though it suited Murphy, seemed to fit him pretty well too.

"It's kinda cool I guess." The boy said eventually.

"You guess? This is a recreation of our country's history."

"Isn't it more like English history?"

Murphy ignored that. "I might take the boots as well, not the shirt though, too baggy. I like my clothes to actually fit."

10K had been able to tell by the overly tight jeans he always insisted on wearing. Not very practical for the apocalypse though.

It amazed 10K how easily Murphy could snap back and forth between moods, no more than ten minutes ago he'd looked heart-broken but now he was his usual self. 10K didn't bring up their past conversation, it would have been tense and troublesome, that and frankly 10K had no idea what he'd say. Instead the boy told Murphy he was thirsty, he wasn't really but it was something to say.

"Sure, give me a sec."

Murphy vanished to the kitchen for a brief second only to return with a tumbler like glass of water that he quickly handed over to the younger man. 10K took a sip of water but couldn't help noticing Murphy looking at him – no, at the glass.

"Murphy," the younger man began suspiciously "how much water do we have left?"

"Not much." He said truthfully. "A few days if we stretch it."

10K paused a moment at that, earlier with breakfast he'd had a full glass and now he had another half glass to sip from at his leisure. The dark-haired kid raised an eyebrow, he'd not seen the older man drink any that day.

"Murphy, where is your ration for the day?"

A pause. "You're drinking it."

10K instantly grounded to a halt. Murphy drank way more water than the rest of their group so why the hell had he just given 10K his share?

"What?! Why did you give me this?"

He held the glass out but Murphy didn't take it.

"You said you were thirsty." The blue man told him as though it were simple.

Murphy still didn't take the glass but he did sit down beside 10K on the beige couch; bloody hideous thing. His arm had started to grow tried to the boy set the glass down on the coffee table intent on drinking no more.

"You can have it, 10K." Murphy said softly.

"No, you need to drink as well."

Truth be told both men were as stubborn as each other. Silence rained between them for a time and 10K was fully aware of how close the older man had sat. The whole situation was starting to mess with 10K, how nice Murphy was being to him, how attentive and considerate. This wasn't the Alvin Murphy 10K knew and hated. Then again he'd never spent so long alone with Murphy before and didn't actually know much about him. Maybe this was who Murphy really was behind that mask of sarcasm and childish behaviour. ' _I like you more than most of the others_ ' 10K remembered him saying. The sharpshooter really didn't know what was happening any more, if this went on much longer 10K was going to start thinking Murphy was a good man.

Suddenly he was speaking without his brain's permission.

"Why are you being so nice to me?" He turned to face Murphy fully. "Why are you going out of your way to try to take care of me? To make things easier for me? You just gave me your entire day's water ration without a single thought. Why do you care?!"

Without warning Murphy grabbed 10K by the cheeks and kissed him hard, It was chaste and short but left 10K stunning into paralysis. When the older man released him the expression on his face was that of a man expecting to be punched.

"... That's why."

10K opened his mouth but no sound came out, not even a squeak and Murphy all but deflated. With a sorrowful sigh he rose to his feet and headed back upstairs looking like an embarrassed child. The boy didn't move – wasn't sure if he even breathed – for a long time, just sat there on the couch in dead silence. He wasn't sure if it had even happened but he could still feel Murphy's warmth on his cheeks. Murphy had kissed him. _Him!_ Suddenly it all clicked into place like a jigsaw with all its pieces. Murphy liked him more than the others, he'd woken up hard to thoughts of the younger man. Murphy... Murphy _liked_ him! 10K had never, _ever_ expected that in a million years. He'd have expected being abducted by aliens before Murphy being sexually attracted to him. The dead quietude stretched on, only punctuated by Zs bumping into the house as usual but 10K noticed not.

Several hours went by and Murphy made no attempt to reappear from his room, it had gone dark but still he didn't budge, at least not until about thirty minutes after he heard 10K go into his own room. Forcing himself to fill with courage Murphy got up and went downstairs to the kitchen, he went through their meal options – he was rather sick of soup – and eventually found two tins of ravioli that he warmed up via the little camping stove he'd found in the basement. When he was done he sat both bowls on the tray and took it up to 10K's room, he knocked on the door before entering and made short work of setting the tray down on the night stand. The boy was reading and Murphy did his best to avoid eye contact. Just as he turned to leave 10K's hand grabbed his.

"Wait, will you check my ankle please?"

For a moment the older man didn't know how to respond so instead he just nodded and knelt on the bed to see the kid's ankle that had been rested on a pillow. Obviously it was bruised but nowhere near as badly as Murphy had expected. It was actually healing very well as far as he could tell, surprising considering he'd not even had a painkiller to help.

"Looks good, kid." Announced the blue man after a moment. "Maybe it wasn't as damaged as I first thought."

The pair seemed to be pretending that earlier hadn't happened and Murphy was grateful for that. 10K's skin was so soft and smooth despite the bruising and discoloration.

"I've always healed pretty quick." 10K told him. "Lucky I guess."

"Yeah," Murphy breathed "lucky. I'd have taken forever."

Murphy either couldn't or wouldn't look at the younger man and it had 10K doing something he wasn't even aware he'd thought off. The younger man slowly leaned in, forced Murphy to face him and pressed their lips together for a gentle kiss; 10K's lack of experience was blatant. When they separated Murphy rested their foreheads together seemingly unwilling to fully release the boy.

"I thought you hated me." Breathed the older man, eyes closed to treasure the memory of 10K's lips against his own.

"So did I until a few days ago." 10K responded truthfully. "And I thought you were straight."

Murphy chuckled but didn't move. "You thought a man with as much fashion sense and as many costume changes as me was straight? No, I bat for both teams, not picky when it comes to gender. And you?"

The sharpshooter was quiet for a moment, only when Murphy debated opening his eyes did 10K speak.

"I... I don't know. Sometimes I think girls, sometimes I think men, sometimes I think both."

That finally got Murphy to look at him. "God, kid, you were too young when this shit happened to even really know who you are."

All was silent for a moment and then Murphy breathed the younger man in.

"Did you just smell me?" 10K's brow furrowed.

"Couldn't help it."

"You want to have sex with me, don't you?"

The blue man nodded. "Yes, pretty much since the day we met, but I won't do anything you don't want or aren't ready for. I'm many things but I'm not a monster."

"Could we just-" 10K cut himself off and looked down to stare at his hands in his lap, Murphy didn't say a word, just waited until 10K managed to carry on. "Could we just, maybe-" He cut himself off again and this time Murphy spoke up.

"Anything you want, baby boy." How long had Murphy been wanting to call 10K that?

"Could we just eat and then go to sleep like when I read to you? I... liked that."

The older man nodded and leaned in to kiss 10K's cheek, Murphy would take whatever the boy was willing to give him. So they did exactly that, they ate the ravioli – which hadn't stood up to time quite as well as the soup – in a strangely peaceful quietude and then they clambered into bed, though this time Murphy stripped off the colonial coat he'd found and his tie. 10K let the blue man pull him to his chest so as 10K's back was to Murphy's chest, he was surprisingly warm... and inviting. Murphy leaned up momentarily to blow out the candle on the night stand table and plunge the room into darkness. A void where just the two of them existed.

This was all very strange and new to 10K – for both of them really – but he couldn't deny how nice it was to be beside another living person, a person who actually seemed to care. 10K fell asleep almost instantly wrapped up in comfort, Murphy though was not so quick to slip into slumber. The older man lay there staring at the boy in his arms, so perfect, so beautiful, like the gods themselves had sculpted him from the finest marble. Murphy couldn't get enough of it. He'd never been able to touch 10K let along hold him like he was doing so he took the opportunity to soak it up, commit every inch of the boy to memory. Murphy had been so annoyed when they'd essentially trapped themselves inside the farmhouse but now he was actually grateful to the Zs, he didn't know what had persuaded 10K to let Murphy sleep beside him rather than knocking his teeth out but he was thankful for whatever it was.

That was how Murphy finally fell asleep, with the sharpshooter cuddled into his scarred chest. Murphy hadn't felt this happy since before he went to jail.


	5. Chapter 5

When 10K opened his blue eyes the first things he registered were warmth and comfort, he was wrapped up in Murphy's strong blue arms while his head rested against the older man's chest. The scent of cinnamon still clung to him faintly and made 10K's nose wrinkle in disdain; he really hated that stuff. It burned his throat. The next thing 10K noticed was that Murphy was watching as he ran his finger through the sharpshooter's thick black locks, that got a faint smile from the boy. If he'd woken up like this a week earlier he'd have shot Murphy on principle but after everything that had happened between them in the last few days 10K found himself just revelling in the warmth.

"How long have you been awake?" The boy asked softly.

"Not long." Replied Murphy's deep voice, 10K felt the rumble in the older man's chest. "Maybe forty-five minutes."

"That's long." The sharpshooter pointed out.

Murphy just smiled. "Not when I'm watching you."

10K chuckled out unimpressed laugh though he refused to open his eyes and look up at the smile no doubt painted on Murphy's face. Laying there it was almost as though the apocalypse didn't exist.

"Did you really just say that?"

"Hey, I'm allowed to be cheesy if I want, saviour of all mankind over here. And you're very watchable."

"Perv." 10K grumbled into Murphy's chest.

"You're only just now noticing?" The older man teased. There was a brief pause where the two just lay there enjoying the quietude and then Murphy was speaking again. "Thank you for this."

Murphy sounded so small all of a sudden, almost like a hard done to child, it wasn't like Murphy and it had 10K's eyes opening in a flash.

"For what?"

10K hadn't done anything, certainly nothing that the blue man could have been grateful for.

"Letting me hold you."

Had Murphy's voice not been so serious, 10K would have asked who the blue man was and what he'd done with the real Murphy. 10K pushed himself up onto his elbows so as he faced the elder man, blue eyes flashed with concern and just a little concern.

"Murphy, you're starting to sound sentimental and it's freaking me out." He said in an attempt to lighten the mood.

Silence rained for a time, the two men just stared at one another until, finally, Murphy patted 10K's leg – the uninjured one – and made to get up.

"I should get you breakfast. Nice for us to be able to eat so regularly."

However, 10K gripped Murphy tight and refused to let him up, the boy lay his head back down on the blue man's chest and closed his eyes once more. Being snuggled up to the older man just felt so right... almost to the point it scared him. He'd never felt that level of comfort before, even when there weren't zombies around ever corner intent on eating him.

Murphy smiled down at the kid. "I will have to move eventually, 10K."

"Not now." Was all the dark-haired boy said before he cuddled in closer.

It was like an immense weight had been lifted from 10K's shoulders, all that hate for Murphy gone. As though before he'd not been able to see the forest for the trees. Slowly Murphy started to draw little patterns on the boy's hip until his fingers crept under 10K's top to tease the skin of his stomach and flank. At first the sharpshooter pulled away because it tickled, then it was because he felt self-conscious. The apocalypse raged outside, food was scares – at least until they'd found the farmhouse it had been – and 10K was almost so thin that his rips stuck out, not quite to the severity of starvation but it still wasn't good.

"Please don't pull away, kid, you're so beautiful."

"Not." 10K grumbled, he wasn't handsome, cute and certainly not beautiful.

"Yes you are."

Ever so slowly Murphy pushed 10K onto his back, so gently but 10K could feel Murphy's hand sliding towards the ribs, his much to scrawny ribs; he shuffled away without really meaning to. 10K felt more than heard Murphy sigh, as though the sharpshooter pulling away had been fully expected. The blue man took his hands back and actually got up.

"I'll find us something to eat, make some tea too."

10K watched the older man leave the bedroom, the boy didn't know what to do, this was all so new to him. He'd gone from despising Murphy to thinking of the blue man as... 10K didn't know what to call it. Attractive? Boyfriend material? Maybe that's going a little too far. Either way 10K was confused and he actually felt bad because clearly he'd hurt the older man. Since entering the farmhouse Murphy had been nothing but honest and kind to him. For God's sake he'd thanked the kid for the privilege of holding him while they slept. 10K had no doubt that had he not moved away Murphy would have kissed him again, the boy sighed, stretched and then went to pee.

When he came back he tripped and ended up sprawled out on the bed as the crutch clattered to the floor. 10K huffed. Murphy had given him his mobility back but the sharpshooter wouldn't be happy until his ankle fully healed, once it did he could get back to killing Zs; it was what he was good at. After a time the sting in his ankle subsided and he pushed himself back up and went to the dresser draw just below the window, he glanced out to see the zombies as they meandered around. 10K really needed a clean t-shirt, the one he had on was covered in dry Z blood and stank of sweat. 10K opened the draw and looked through the top two draws but they just contained blouses and women's underwear however the bottom two had what he was looking for. The draws were full of shirts and a couple of long-sleeved tops which – unfortunately – were all massively too big for his skinny frame. They'd have fitted Murphy better, he was slightly taller and had broader shoulders. Reluctantly 10K tugged off his scrap fabric of a top and tossed it aside then grabbed one of the dark green shirts, he'd have rather worn a t-shirt but it would have been ridiculously too large at least in a shirt he could roll up his sleeves properly.

"Wow." 10K tensed and slowly turned to see Murphy stood in the doorway with that bloody tray in his hands again. Murphy had his eyes locked on 10K's naked torso. "Told you you're beautiful, kid."

Murphy said as though his proven but 10K didn't understand how. He was too thin, covered in old scars and half healed bruises, he was awkward, inexperienced, standoffish and to top things off he couldn't remember the last time he'd showered properly. How the hell could any of that be considered pretty let alone beautiful? Still, it felt nice to hear Murphy say it with such sincerity.

The blue man set the wooden breakfast tray down on the bed and started to sip at his tea while 10K put the shirt on, his eyes were locked on the boy. Murphy's eyes didn't feel heavy or dominating, they actually felt as though 10K were a painting hanging in a gallery, a work of art being admired. 10K actually felt special, he'd never experienced that before.

"I'm sorry if I upset you earlier when I pulled away." The sharpshooter said without giving his mouth permission to speak.

Murphy looked taken aback. "Kid, you've got nothing to be sorry for. I told you I wouldn't do anything you're not comfortable with, you weren't so you pulled away, nothing wrong with that." He shrugged.

10K was seeing a side of Murphy he'd never known existed. Underneath all that confidence and smugness he was actually a kind, good person. Murphy was far more that 10K had ever expected. Suddenly 10K made a decision and went over to stand before Murphy, he looked down at the older man who had furrowed his brow.

"What... what were you going to do e... earlier?"

Murphy smiled. "Well-" 10K cut him off.

"No, don't tell me... show me?"

There was a hesitant pause and then Murphy set his half drunk tea down on the side table, everything was quiet in that moment.

"You sure?"

The dark-haired boy nodded, he'd been so confused since Murphy had first kissed him but no longer. If his mind couldn't figure it all out maybe Murphy could help him to. Slowly Murphy guided 10K to sit down beside him, he shifted the crutch onto the floor and did the same with breakfast tray then carefully pushed 10K down onto his back. Murphy sat on his haunches and ran a hand up the younger man's chest so he could open the shirt buttons.

"You want me to stop, you say so, okay?"

"Yeah."

When the shirt was opened Murphy pushed 10K's legs apart so as he could settle between them and leant down to kiss 10K's hip, the boy yelped in surprise, he'd clearly seen it coming but the actual physical comfort still took him by surprise. He felt Murphy smile against his skin as the man kissed up 10K's thin frame, over his heart, his clavicle and then finally 10K's lips. The kiss was soft and gentle but then Murphy cupped the younger man which forced 10K to gasp and the blue man took the opportunity to slip his tongue into the younger man's mouth and taste him. 10K felt his cock twitch which only had Murphy grinning again. Only when the desperate urge for air became too strong to resist did Murphy release the boy, he pulled back so as he could just bask in the sight of 10K. So beautiful, so perfect, so flawless in the older man's eyes.

"Kid, do you have any idea what you do to me?"

Blue eyes glanced down to see the large bulge in Murphy's tight pants.

"Yeah, I'm staring to get the idea."

10K wanted more, he liked this, he wanted Murphy to touch him all over. With all that hate for the blue man gone he'd found himself opening up to new emotions. Murphy pressed another kiss to 10K's lips before he trailed back down the boy's chest kissing every inch of exposed porcelain flesh until he took a nipple into his mouth while he rolled the other between two fingers. 10K's head fell back against the pillows as his body arched into the older man's touch.

The boy didn't know what to do with his hands, he couldn't just leave them at his side, that seemed weird, but he had to do something. He felt the urge to grasp something and eventually he settled for the sheets, 10K grasped the sheets so tight his fingers went white while his hips bucked to meet Murphy's large hand.

"My boy." Hummed the bearded man and why did that send a jolt of pleasure through 10K's body?

Then Murphy was undoing 10K's pants and tugging them down along with his socks.

"Take your shirt off... unless you want me to stop?"

10K didn't speak, just took his shirt off, tossed it to the floor and let that do the talking for him. The boy was left in nothing but his blue tented boxers.

"You really are beautiful." Murphy reached for the waistband of 10K's boxers. "Can I?"

The younger man nodded and Murphy made quick work of stripping the last scrap of fabric from 10K. Suddenly the boy felt awkward and very uncomfortable but just when the urge to cover himself started to get the better of him Murphy shuffled down the bed and kissed 10K's inner thigh. 10K's tight grip on the sheets tightened while the blue man's kisses travelled up his thighs to his hips and stomach. Murphy's unique eyes looked up to make sure 10K was watching him, he flashed a small grin and then took the boy into his mouth. 10K gasped.

"God!"

He'd never felt this before, never experienced anything like it but damn did it feel good. His hips bucked uncontrollably to the point that Murphy was forced to hold the younger man's hips down. Murphy gave 10K's tip a kitten lick and indulged in feeling it throb, but Murphy couldn't resist and soon took the younger man in fully, head bobbing at an agonizing pace. 10K moaned.

"You like that, my boy?" Murphy batted his eyelashes at the boy teasingly then began bobbing his head faster.

The boy was practically a writhing mess and Murphy soaked up every second of it, he let a large hand trail up 10K's smooth stomach and over his flank. Murphy just desperately needed to touch the kid as much as he possibly could. He could feel 10K dangling on the edge of orgasm, atop a cliff looking at the blissful waters below and the ledge was slippery. This was Murphy's dream, to watch 10K come undone, to be the one who pushed him into that euphoric ocean.

"Murphy... I think I'm gonna..."

"It's okay, baby boy."

Murphy took 10K back into his mouth and a few seconds later the boy released into Murphy's mouth with an explicit moan. The bearded man swallowed him down, eyes never leaving the debauched mess of the younger man.

While 10K lay there panting Murphy pulled himself up the younger man's chest and locked their lips together forcing the boy to taste himself on Murphy's lips. 10K's chest rose and fell sucking in air while Murphy continued to cover him in kisses. The older man carefully got 10K to release his fingers from the sheets and pressed little kisses to each pale fingertip, a loving gesture, just another thing on the list of things 10K hadn't experienced.

Murphy was still fully dressed and it felt highly unfair to 10K, he started to pull at his shirt but Murphy just smiled.

"You don't want to see that, my boy. My chest isn't a pretty sight." His tone was half-hearted.

"See it before." Muttered the boy, he wasn't taking no for an answer it seemed.

"That was before I went blue, trust me, you don't want to see it. Kinda kills the mood."

Annoyed, 10K relented and instead started to pull at Murphy's belt. He'd gone into this hoping Murphy would help him to figure out what he wanted and he had, 10K wanted Murphy, wanted everything the man was willing to give.

With yet another grin Murphy pushed the boy's hands aside and tugged his pants open and eventually off but the shirt stayed firmly on, it wasn't that he was embarrassed by his bites it was just that 10K was so beautiful and he didn't want to tarnish that perfection with his own hideousness.

Slightly hesitantly 10K reached for the bulge in Murphy's tight boxer briefs and Murphy just let him, let the boy explore. When 10K took him in hand the older man groaned.

"Little tighter, baby boy. You've done this to yourself, you know what to do." Murphy encouraged as his hands clawed at the younger man.

10K shuffled towards the blue man and in a moment of pure bravery started to kiss at Murphy's neck, almost instantly Murphy grabbed 10K's hips and started to thrust into his thigh. Murphy kissed the younger man hard, a kiss full of fire, need and passion.

"Fuck, I want you."

Frankly that was pretty bloody obvious, the man was thrusting his erect member into 10K's thigh but just hearing it had 10K's cock twitching again, gotta love that teenage refractory period.

"Then have me."

Murphy looked at him seriously for a moment, a blowjob was one thing but he'd not expected actual sex to be on the table.

"Are you sure? You don't have to-"

"I want to. Please, Murphy? I want this."

How could the blue man deny his boy? With a deep kiss Murphy whispered 'okay; into his ear and then squeezed his backside.

Slowly so as 10K had every opportunity to change his mind Murphy teased the flesh of 10K's ass and only when he was certain the boy wouldn't change his mind did Murphy dip a finger into him.

"Fuck!"

Murphy wasn't going to give it to the boy that easily, he wanted to tease him a little first and make sure he didn't hurt him. Murphy slipped another finger into the boy and curled them ever so slightly, just enough to brush against that sensitive spot deep within the boy.

"Please, Murphy! Please!"

This was all new to 10K but now he'd started to experience it he craved more, it felt so good, so right and perfect. Almost as though the older man was showing 10K who he really was. 10K's whole body cried out for Murphy's touch and moulded itself to his body.

"Like that, baby boy?" Murphy asked in a deep tone, 10K groaned.

When 10K started to push back on his fingers Murphy took them back leaving the boy to mourn the loss, he didn't need to mourn long though because soon enough Murphy had rolled 10K onto his stomach and pulled him up on his hands and knees; careful not to hurt his ankle.

"Last chance to back out, kid, because I won't let you change your mind after this."

"Fuck, Murphy, just do it!"

That was the argumentative 10K Murphy knew. The boy had made his mind up and as promised Murphy wouldn't let him change his mind now. With nothing better to hand Murphy spat on his hand and lubed himself up.

The blue man kissed up 10K's spine as his hands gripped the boy's hips and finally, finally, he thrust into the boy. 10K moaned, arms instantly gave out and left him resting on his elbows.

"Christ, you feel so good."

For a moment Murphy didn't move, he wanted to let 10K grow used to the suddenly fullness, soon 10K was desperately thrusting backwards in search for more.

"Move!" 10K demanded.

Murphy grinned. "Needy little boy."

And Murphy did, he pulled almost all the way out only to thrust back in hard forcing the younger man to let out a little mew of pleasure. Murphy's hands splay over 10K's back, the boy was so tight around him and Murphy had to fight not to come there and then.

"Harder." 10K begged then hissed out in sudden pain when she shuffled too far and bent his ankle awkwardly.

Quickly Murphy pulled out of the younger man and rolled onto his back, he pulled 10K over him to straddle him and careful not to hurt 10K's ankle any more helped to lower the boy back down onto him.

"Yes!"

10K's head rolled back, eyes fluttered shut. He used his hands to brace himself on Murphy's chest, he was further supported by the blue hands under his ass, giving him a gentle push upward with each stroke.

"Christ, you're gorgeous. You take it so well, baby boy."

10K was hard again and desperate for his second release.

Murphy felt his balls pull tight against his body, his knees trembled as he thrust up harder into his darling boy, he could feel the sweat beading at his hairline, his nails dug into 10K's hips leaving behind little crescent shaped bruises. 10K drops down against Murphy's chest and latched his mouth onto Murphy's neck and sucks, giving him that final push. Where all this sudden sexual confidence had come from neither knew and frankly neither cared.

His back arched, his arms encircled 10K in a death like grip as his hips slowed to short rapid jerks as his cock pulses deep inside the body.

"10K, feel so good, so tight. fuck ah!"

10K kissed Murphy until his hips stilled and his arms relaxed but stayed wrapped around him. He lifts up and fails to not wince as the older man's cock slid out of his formally virginal body.

"Wow," he mutters as he began to stroke himself in search of that second orgasm.

"Yeah." Murphy looked at the boy as he jerked himself off, God 10K was beautiful. He battered the boy's hand away and replaced it with his own. "So fucking gorgeous."

"I can feel you inside me, leaking down my thighs."

"Fuck, kid, don't say that you'll get me hard again."

Murphy teased the boy to orgasm and delighted when 10K's head fell back against the pillows again and let out a throaty moan. He spilled onto Murphy's hand as pleasure sparked through his thin body.

"My boy." Murphy muttered to himself as he watched 10K ride out his high.

With a smirk Murphy licked the boy's seed from his fingers, slow and deliberate.

For a while the two men just lay there, once his fingers were clean Murphy pulled 10K into his chest and just held him, their breakfast completely forgotten.


	6. Chapter 6

Murphy lugged a large plastic barrel up from the basement, as soon as he got it into the kitchen Murphy leant over it to get his breath back; that thing was heavier than it looked.

"What are you doing?"

Murphy spun around to see 10K leant on his crutch, his hair was everywhere, shirt only half buttoned and God was he beautiful.

"Looks like it's going to rain," Murphy began while his eyes raked over the younger man's lean body "and I found a barrel down in the basement. Thought I could clean it out and leave it on the deck out back. Fresh supply of water."

10K raised an eyebrow. "That's... actually quite smart."

Murphy flashed the sharpshooter a smile. "I can be ingenuitive when I want to be."

"You woke me up, thought the Zs were trying to get in."

"Sorry." Said Murphy.

The older man reached for 10K and the boy let himself fill Murphy's arms. His chest was warm and inviting. Frankly Murphy was surprised 10K let him touch him so easily.

"I thought it would be best to let you sleep. How do you feel?" Murphy ran his hands up and down 10K's back slowly.

"Okay, a little sore but that's to be expected, right?"

Murphy nodded. "How's your ankle?"

"Alright." 10K shrugged. "Be better when it heals fully. Can I help?"

The boy was so stunning cuddled into Murphy's strong chest, Murphy could feel the boy's breaths against his shirt. The blue man was still revelling in the memory of his and 10K's sexual encounter the earlier that day, it had been perfect and... well, perfect pretty much covered it, what word could have been better? They'd fallen asleep afterwards, or 10K had, Murphy had just lay there for hours watching the slow rise and fall of his darling boy's chest with a smile. A smile that Murphy had been unable to rid himself of... not that he'd tried very hard. Murphy indulged in the warmth of the younger man, he was being rather overzealous really.

"Nah, it's okay, you go rest your leg." The black barrel was indeed heavy but Murphy could manage on his own.

"I'm not gonna break, Murphy, not made of glass." The boy grumbled while Murphy looked softly at him, after a moment he nodded to himself.

"I know that, 10K, but the more you rest the faster you'll heal. We've already established that your ankle wasn't as damaged as I first thought so it shouldn't be too long but you still shouldn't push yourself."

10K huffed out a laugh and glanced up at Murphy with those bold cerulean orbs of his.

"I don't really do sitting around doing nothing."

"Then how about you take stock of how much food we've got left? I haven't done a proper inventory yet."

"Fine."

10K was actually grateful for something to do even if it was only a small thing that Murphy had probably already done despite what he said.

"My boy."

Murphy kissed 10K's forehead, a selfish act he couldn't prevent. There was something strangely domestic about it and the boy liked it. Really liked it. It was relaxing and peaceful. Murphy dragged the barrel out the back door when 10K left for the living room, it took some hefting but he eventuality got it out onto the reasonably sized deck. 10K really hoped the zombies cleared out soon, he was starting to go a little stir crazy in the farmhouse. Murphy quickly shut the door behind him once he was out the building, clouds had covered the sky and it didn't look as though it would be long until the heavens opened. A few of the Zs followed Murphy around as he set up the barrel as best he could but most just left him alone, one wandered a little too close and Murphy quickly realised she was the same deadite that had been in the barn when 10K had fallen through the hay loft.

"I told you to go away, remember." Clearly the Z hadn't gotten the memo the first time. She didn't move. "Go away! Schnell! Andale! How many languages does it take?"

When the Z continued to look at him Murphy huffed and forced the zombie to turn and pushed it off towards the steps which it stumbled down and finally shuffled off. With a tiny sigh of relief Murphy turned back to the job at hand and soon noticed a smile on his blue face, he'd had that smile since he'd climbed out of bed beside a naked 10K. He'd spent so long only being allowed to touch the boy in his dreams but 10K had actually welcomed his touch, had moaned out for more. Murphy was happy. As he looked out at the mass of Zs it seemed as though they'd actually started to clear somewhat. Things are starting to look up, knew the herd had to clear out at some point.

A moment or two later it started to rain, tiny droplets at first that dampened the fabric of his shirt but soon they became heavy sheets of rain, looked like the blue man had timed his little perfectly. Though if the Zs disbanded they might not need the huge barrel of water. Quickly enough Murphy was forced to duck back inside the farmhouse.

"Looks like they've finally started to wander off, give it a couple of days and I might be able to walk to the barn without bumping into a Z." Said Murphy as he made his way through the kitchen and into the living room while he shook water from his short hair.

Murphy found 10K sat on the floor between the coffee table and the couch with his injured leg stretched out, he'd stacked the cans up in a neat little row on the table.

"That'll be nice." The boy looked up to the older man as he sat down on the couch and just watched. "It's raining too so hopefully we'll have water, I'll boil some tomorrow."

10K nodded. "If we can get a good supply of water in that barrel then we shouldn't have to worry for a while. There's plenty of food, if we ration it we could survive for months without going hungry."

Without going hungry sounded pretty good. Murphy kicked and leant back against the beige couch cushions.

"Don't worry, kid, won't be too long until we find Doc and the rest of the group."

"Hope so." Said 10K somewhat dejectedly. There was a momentary pause and then 10K shuffled around to face the older man. "And you had your cock in me a few hours ago, maybe stop calling me 'kid'."

Murphy grinned at that, he'd not expected 10K to be so relaxed about what had happened between them but he was grateful for it. He tilted his head to the side ever so slightly.

"Whatever you want, baby boy."

10K rolled his eyes at that then went back to the last few cans. They sat there for a few minutes, Murphy stared up at the ceiling while the boy put their food away. Rain spattered on the window and roof, the noise echoed through the house steadily getting louder as the rain grew heavier. Only when 10K had put away the last of the silver cans did Murphy speak, eyes filtered down from the ceiling to the coffee table.

"You know, when I was in prison I spent a lot of time in the library and I swear they had this exact same coffee table in there."

10K zipped the bag closed. "What was prison like?" The boy asked offhandedly.

Murphy sighed and rubbed a hand across his face. "It's not like on TV, there's no huge conspiracy the guards are all in on. Basically it's just boring; wake up, eat the world's worst breakfast, go and do whatever work you're assigned to do, yard time, go back to your cell, eat another awful meal that might have actually just been a mix of water and sawdust then bed. Rinse and repeat. Of course there are the gangs that throw a spanner in the works."

"Were you part of one?" The boy asked curiously. "A gang?"

"Nah, didn't have time for that crap. I had a few friends I'd play cards with and a pretty cool cell mate but that was it. Why all the questions? You suddenly jealous of my prison wife?"

10K's head snapped up, face coated in a combination of shock and horror.

"You had one of those?!"

Murphy chuckled. "Nope, just wanted to see your reaction." Suddenly Murphy's face turned serious and his back straightened. "You don't... regret what we did?"

10K relaxed and shuffled a little closer to Murphy so as he was almost sat between his feet, his tongue jutted out to wet his lips.

"... No. Should I?"

"I'd hoped not but I know you'd never done that before and I'm... well, me."

"I'm starting to realise things I didn't know before." 10K muttered to himself more than to Murphy.

The older man just watched him with a soft smile, they could hear the rain even more now, it had become fierce and crashed against the windows angrily. 10K didn't know what to make of Murphy's smile, it wasn't smug, not judgemental or any of the other smiles Murphy was known for. However, it was a smile he'd spotted the blue man giving him before. It was softer, like care or even love. Oh, hell no! Way too early for that. Forever might be too early for that! Yet the possibility was there and it made 10K's heart flutter. The boy turned his attention back to the bag and pulled out the largest of the cans.

"Have you looked what's in this one?" 10K asked just so he had something to say.

"No, what is it? Anything good?"

"Chocolate pudding."

Murphy shot forwards. "No way. I used to live on that stuff when I was a kid."

"I don't imagine you as a child," 10K began without even really knowing he'd started to talk. "more like you just popped into existence one day fully formed."

The older man chortled at that and ran a large hand though 10K's jet black locks, an indulgent act; he was grateful the boy let him. He shot to his feet.

"Stay there."

10K watched Murphy head into the kitchen only to return a moment later with two spoons, the boy grinned and pulled the can open before he accepted a spoon.

"What are we, teens on a date?" Asked the younger man as he looked at the pair of them with two spoons in a can of pudding.

"Well, you are a teenager and I'm reliving my youth through this stuff so why the hell not?"

Murphy helped 10K up onto the couch then he'd the can between the pair of them. Murphy seemed to happy eating the pudding and frankly 10K found it adorable, seeing how much enjoyment the blue man was getting out of it actually made the pudding taste better to 10K.

After a while – and half a can of chocolate pudding – 10K broke the quiet, until that moment only the rain had punctuated the silence. 10K had to admit he was enjoying the afternoon which earned a grin from Murphy.

"Good. Sometimes It's the simple things in life. Me and my Mom used to do this soft of thing since Dad wasn't around much."

"Me and my Pa would go camping in the woods and we'd make dinner wile we watched the rain."

The older man tensed slightly. "Can I ask what happened to your Mother? You never speak about her."

10K took a breath. "Never knew her. She died giving birth to me." 10K's head dropped. "Pa said she she wouldn't stop bleeding."

"It's called hemorrhage." Murphy supplied uselessly. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be, it's not your fault." A brief pause hung between them, hardly there. "Can we talk about something else?"

"Sure, like what?"

"I don't know." The younger man said honestly as he leaned to rest his head on Murphy's shoulder.

It almost scared Murphy with how fast 10K seemed to have become accustom to the his touch, he'd even started seeking it out. Murphy hadn't realised how much he craved the boy, Murphy took the opportunity to snake his arm around 10K's shoulder.

"My boy." He muttered to himself but the sharpshooter heard it anyway, he just snuggled closer.

The whole thing was sweet and domestic.

"How about we talk about you? You like to talk, never shut up really."

"Hey!" Murphy flashed the younger man a look of mock annoyance and irritation. "But fine. What do you want to know?"

10K shrugged, an awkward movement with how close to Murphy he was.

"I don't know, anything. What were you like at my age?" It was the first thing that came to mind. "Same but younger I bet... and less blue."

"Cheeky little boy." Murphy grinned and raked his hand through his hair. "Alright, what was I like as a teenager? Okay, well, my Mom used to call me her Smart Alec, I always had something to say."

"Yeah, no shit, you never shut up."

"I don't have to tell y-" 10K cut him off.

"Yes you do."

Again Murphy chuckled. "Dad wasn't around much and when he was we wanted him gone. My Mom. Lucy, she tried to keep me on the straight and narrow but I was eighteen, smart and good with numbers."

"Thought you got locked up for postal fraud."

"I did but that doesn't mean it was the only crime I committed."

10K chuckled. "Bad man."

"That's me, baby boy. Anyway, she did her best, she was a good person."

The sharpshooter easily noticed the slight spark of pain in Murphy's eyes.

"You loved your Mom, didn't you."

"Of course, for a long time she was the only thing I cared about other than me. You should have seen her kick the crap out of my Dad."

10K looked up at the bearded man. "Why did she do that?"

"I was-" he paused for a moment to think "-sixteen, maybe seventeen and he decided to come home. He walked straight into my bedroom and found me on top of Colin. Dad went ape shit. No son of his was going to be gay, obviously sitting him down and explaining I wasn't gay wasn't going to happen. He tried to throw me out a bloody window, Mom heard the yelling and launched at him. That woman was like a lioness."

"You're Pa doesn't sound like a nice man." Muttered 10K.

"Fuck no, he was a drunk moron."

"What happened to Colin?"

Murphy shrugged. "Pretended he didn't know me after that, I couldn't blame him really. My ear had a lot more stigma on the whole gay, straight, bisexual thing. Shame really, Colin was a real good kisser. It was alright though, a couple of weeks later I started dating a girl called Jessica so it all turned out fine." Murphy breathed out a laugh. "Who'd have thought just how little it would matter. Men and women, men and men, women and women. No one gives a damn now, we just focus on the fact we're alive."

"Kind of shows how petty our disagreements and world view really were."

"You can say that again, My boy."

10K smiled into Murphy's chest.

"That's going to stick isn't it? 'My boy' and 'baby boy'."

"If you don't like it I can stop."

In that moment 10K knew that Murphy would, if the boy hated the nicknames he's actually stop, fortunately that wasn't a problem.

"No, I... like it."

"Good," Murphy grinned ear to ear "because I do to, My boy."

10K looked up at him with those bold blue eyes full of jest.

"My tall blue pain in the ass."

Murphy roared with laughter, set the empty pudding can down and suddenly picked 10K up and pulled the boy onto his lap.

"Be nice to me."

"Or what?" 10K asked in a teasing tone. How had they slipped into this domestic state so quickly?

"Or I won't fuck you."

"Who says I'll let you?"

"Oh," Murphy kissed the boy's temple "you forget," He kissed 10K's neck "I know how much of a needy baby boy you are."

Murphy finally kissed 10K's pink lips, 10K snaked his arms around the older man's neck and then there was a God awful bang.

"What the hell was that?!"

Murphy sighed. "I think one of the Zs bumped into the barrel, doesn't sound like it tipped." He patted 10K's thigh. "Shift, I'll go check."

The boy watched Murphy head towards the kitchen, he'd never expected any of this when Murphy had pointed the farmhouse out but he was happy and maybe that was what was important.


	7. Chapter 7

Murphy's water barrel idea had worked and they'd managed to spend another half week in the farmhouse without issue. 10K had really started to grow stir crazy but Zs had cleared out to the point they could leave... for about thirty-five feet. Murphy refused to leave the house though.

"What do you mean we're staying?" Demanded 10K as they stood on either sides of the bed as they prepared to go to sleep.

"Not forever, I know you'd never go for that, just until your ankle heals." Replied Murphy while he tugged off his shirt.

"It's fine, Murphy." The boy sighed.

Murphy let out a huff and locked his eyes on the younger man. "Drop the crutch and come over here." 10K raised an eyebrow. "If you can walk over here without that crutch and yelping in bloody pain, then we'll go. But I don't think you can."

10K dropped the crutch, it clattered to the floor with a dull thud. "I can do it."

The boy slowly walked towards Murphy, it stung, God did it sting but he was determined not to show that. They'd lost enough time looking for the others already. Just when he thought he could make it pain shot up through his ankle and into his calf forcing him to stumble, 10K braced for impact but it never came, Murphy caught him at the last second and sat him down on the bed.

"Told you." Muttered Murphy softly.

10K sounded frustrated. "Okay, okay, fine. We'll stay, but as soon as I can walk properly we go, alright?"

The blue man nodded. "Yeah, back to operation make Murphy a human pin cushion."

"It's not like that."

10K hated it when Murphy spoke like that, like he was nothing more than a test subject. Murphy sighed, he knew 10K didn't like it but it was the unfortunate truth. A truth that Murphy hated but had resigned himself to.

"Yeah, baby boy, it is."

"No, you'll be like a savior."

If 10K really believed that or if he was just trying to make Murphy feel better the older man didn't know; either way it brought a smile to Murphy's face. He couldn't help but rub his hand comfortingly over 10K's shoulder.

"I appreciate you optimism but no, I'll be a carrier. No more important than a lab rat." He took a breath. "But hey, there is one good thing that will come from all this."

"What's that?" 10K asked inquisitively or at least as inquisitively as the throbbing in his ankle would let him be.

A hand came up to stroke along 10K's cheek, a gentle gesture that Murphy had learnt he couldn't control.

"You'll get to live."

10K's heart actually twanged. There was a pause, almost uncomfortably long and then the boy finally spoke, his voice crashed through the silence.

"Murphy, do-" He cut himself off for a moment, he sounded so confused and somewhat scared. "Murphy, do you... love me?"

The blue man huffed out a laugh. "That obvious, huh? My boy, as twelve year old girl as it sounds I've loved you since the day I met you."

10K laughed. "You're right, that does sound like a twelve year old girl." He flashed Murphy a smile, one of those gorgeous ones that Murphy loved.

"You don't believe me, do you?"

"I don't believe a lot of things you say but that? Yes, I believe that."

He'd seen it in the way Murphy spoke to him, looked at him, held him. No one could fake all that so well, so yes, 10K believed him. He had no idea why Murphy loved _him_ of all people but he knew the older man did. The smile on Murphy's face was infections and the two shared the elated feeling, a little moment of happiness inside the apocalypse.

"Good."

Murphy leant in and pressed his lips to the younger man's, 10K tasted sweet, something natural that was unique to him and him alone.

"Come on, it's late, we should go to sleep."

10K smiled, that naughty little smile that Murphy had started to learn only came out for him.

"We could... or-" The boy cut himself off knowingly as he moved to straddle the blue man and kissed him hard.

"Mmm, I like this plan better."

The older man snared his arms around 10K's slender body and pulled him close by a firm grip on his backside. They fell back against the bed with a satisfying thud and Murphy revelled the view of the boy over him. 10K reached for Murphy's shirt but Murphy stopped him.

"I've seen them before Murphy and you can't keep your shirt on forever. Let me take it off or you can't have me."

Murphy pouted. "You're cruel."

"Uh-huh." Was all the answer the blue man got and Murphy sighed.

"Fine, but it's really not pretty."

10K ignored everything that the blue man said and went straight for the small shirt buttons, he slowly opened them and pushed he red fabric from Murphy's shoulders where it ended up discharged on the floor somewhere. Murphy had been right, it wasn't pretty but it certainly wasn't ugly either, more like a mark of survival. 10K leant down and kissed the bite over the older man's stomach. Murphy gasped and 10K glanced up with a smirk; sometimes it surprised the blue man at how confident 10K had become. Murphy had only ever associated there bites with pain and agony but 10K hoped he'd associate them now with pleasure and the feel of the younger man's lips. The sharpshooter kept his blue eyes locked with Myrphy's distinctive ones as he continued to kiss the rest of the marks, he grinned when he felt Murphy start to harden.

"You want your baby boy?"

Where all of 10K's confidence had come from but Murphy liked it, craved it, loved it.

"God yes!"

Then Murphy was pulling on the boy's much too big shirt, Murphy yanked it over his head and tossed it to the ground to join his own shirt and his mouth was back on 10K's own. The pair had learnt that the fitted together incredibly well, like pieces of the same puzzle; almost sinful.

Murphy's hand slipped into 10K's pants to tease him while the other hand deftly opened them, he flipped them then and slammed 10K against the mattress. The boy bounced slightly and just grinned as Murphy stripped off his jeans as fast as he physically could before he did the same with his boy's.

It didn't take Murphy long to indulge in pressing their cocks together and jerking them off. His lips never left 10K's, a battle for dominance that Murphy quickly won though 10K did put up a fight. Murphy revelled in the little mews and groans the younger man let out, the pleasure, the steadily rising bliss.

"How are you so good at this?"

Murphy chuckled. "I've jerked off a lot men in my life."

"Man whore-ah!" The dark-haired teenager's head fell back against the soft pillows.

"Yeah, but I'm _your_ man whore." He smirked.

"Oh... God... yes!"

The boy arched into Murphy's touch, his mouth hung open as little pants escaped his parted lips, his hips bucked into the older man's hand. It didn't take long to get 10K off like this and soon he spilled over Murphy's hand with a strangled moan of utter bliss; a wave of euphoria that lingered on his nerve endings. The blue man grinned at the sight of his boy, so perfect, so debauched. Murphy watched 10K with determined eyes as he licked the cum from his fingers with a grin.

"Do you have any idea how beautiful you are?" 10K didn't answer just rode out his bliss.

Then Murphy pushed his darling boy's legs apart and forced them to snake around his hips, Murphy chuckled.

"This you being my needy little boy, 10K?" He breathed huskily.

"Uh-huh." Words had started to elude the sharpshooter.

Murphy gazed upon the boy with hungry eyes for a moment before fingers finally gave in and started to trail down 10K's smooth chest towards that place that brought the younger man so much pleasure. As soon as a single finger entered him 10K gasped, his hands flew up to grip Murphy's shoulders and let his eyes flutter shut, the sight filled the blue man with an animalistic sense of pride.

"My boy." He purred as talented fingers prepared the younger man. "Think you can take another?"

"Don't fucking tease me, Murphy!"

The boy didn't open his eyes, couldn't, it felt too good. So Murphy gave his teenager what he wanted, he slipped in a second finger and then a third and just when 10K started to beg a fourth – started to push down onto him with need – the boy let out a groan.

"Murphy!" He half begged half whined and Murphy couldn't deny him any longer.

The boy was a quivering mess of need before him, when he removed his fingers 10K pouted, a beautiful expression that Murphy committed to memory almost instantly. Then he lined himself up and slammed home, forcing the headboard to bump against the wall almost rhythmically. Murphy groaned, 10K was just so tight. He only gave his boy a moment to adjust to the length inside him, need had taken over; that raw need. 10K clawed at the blue man in a desperate attempt to get him as closer, deeper , anything! Murphy went willingly and locked their lips together as he thrust deeper and harder, hands on either of 10K's hips which were already bruised with the marks of Murphy's fingertips and thrust into the younger man in perfect rhythm.

"You have no idea how good you feel, baby boy." He gasped. "Why are you so fucking perfect?"

"Murphy!" Was all 10K could manage to get out.

In a sudden display of strength Murphy lifted the younger man so as he sat on his haunches with 10K bouncing in his lap. The dark-haired sharpshooter groaned at the new angle and wrapped his arms around Murphy's blue neck while the older man continued to kiss up his darling boy's neck.

The Zs were all but gone and they were together and 10K was happy, happier than he really remembered ever being before; he'd not thought too far into all that though.

"You gonna cum for me, baby? Gonna cum untouched on my cock."

10K moaned. Murphy had very quickly caught on to the fact that 10K liked dirty talk and even more so when he called him 'baby boy' or 'my boy'. Of course Murphy didn't have a single problem with any of that.

"Come on, my boy. The Zs are basically gone, you can make as much noise as you want. Need to hear you, 10K."

"Christ Murphy! Harder!"

That was another thing he had noticed, 10K had started to swear more. Again, not really a problem. Murphy could tell 10K was close, always was when he started to claw at Murphy's hair and practically hyperventilated. Murphy was had started to seriously consider growing his hair out, now he'd gone blue it seemed like a good idea... that and it would have given 10K something to grip onto. The older man squeezed 10K's ass and purred into his ear.

"Cum for me, baby boy."

And he did. Murphy cried out as his orgasm hurtled through his slender body until he fell limp against the elder man, 10K's walls tightened around Murphy and pushed him over the edge. Orgasm was like a raging ocean, huge waves of pleasure that washed over not just the body but the soul soothing it. The two lay there collapsed against one another panting and coated in a thin sheen of sweat. Neither one said a single word because nothing needed to be said. The pair seemed to have developed an unspoken rule that neither one would bring up Cassandra or discuss their previous hatred of one another. Cassie was a sore and fresh subject. While the hatred didn't seem to be important any longer 10K nor Murphy knew quite what to call what was happening between them, was it just fucking around or was it something more? Was it a budding relationship? Murphy had already admitted he felt something for 10K. Frankly neither one of them had the mental capacity to think about that there and then.

Murphy revelled in 10K's weight on the bed with him, almost as though it were a comfort. He stroked a hand through 10K's slightly damp locks with a soft smile as 10K's fingers trailed along the bites and for the first time Murphy didn't immediately think of pain or Zs when he saw them, no, he thought of 10K.

"I love you, Tommy." The blue man kissed the top of 10K's head.

The sharpshooter didn't ask how Murphy knew his name, he could hazard a guess but he didn't want to bring it up so he didn't.

"Good." The boy said eventually. "Someone's got to."

It didn't escape Murphy's knowledge that 10K didn't say it back he didn't push the younger man, 10K would say it when he was ready, _if_ he was ever ready. Instead Murphy decided to just hold the boy close and bask in what was left of their orgasm before slumber took the pair of the.


	8. Chapter 8

The next morning 10K headed down to the kitchen where he found Murphy pouring hot water into a bowl. Steam rose from it and danced around his face lightly for a second before it disbursed into nothingness.

"Morning." 10K greeted with a sleepy smile. "What are you doing?"

The blue man didn't look up. "Well, I for one am sick of being filthy. The shower doesn't work but the barrel is full so a whore's bath it is."

10K's brow furrowed. "What's a whore's bath?"

Murphy chuckled to himself as he pulled off his shirt and dunked a cloth into the bowl. 10K smiled when he saw the bite marks, he'd hated showing them before but now Murphy was clearly comfortable around the boy now.

"Basically washing from a sink instead of taking a fucking shower." 10K just nodded to himself while Murphy cleaned off his skin. "How's your leg today?"

"Better, but you won't let us head out will you?" 10K said softly.

"Nope." Came Murphy's quick reply, he popped the 'p' almost satisfyingly. "What? You're not going to argue with me on this?"

10K shook head. "No, you're right." Murphy raised an eyebrow at that; arguing with Murphy was basically a sport for 10K at this point. "I can't travel, best not to push myself. I thought we could look around the barn, we had that quick look around but now the Zs have cleared we can have a proper look."

"Yeah, can do. I only looked around a little so God knows what's in there. Worth a look, baby boy." Murphy flashed him a smile. "You wanna get in on this hot water action?"

"Are you just trying to get mu shirt off?" However, clean did sound good; Murphy smirked.

"Guilty."

The blue man smirked and then raked the cloth over his face while 10K leant against the kitchen counter. It was a tad awkward but the younger man managed to rest his crutch against the surface so he could removed his oversized shirt; he took the proffered cloth from Murphy. The whole situation wasn't ideal but it wiped away some of the grime and provided some refreshment to his skin; being clean was a luxury 10K had almost started to forget.

"Do you want some tea?" Murphy asked when he'd dried off his blue skin and put his shirt back on.

10K nodded. "Yeah. Never been a big tea drinker but I kind of like it now. Strange."

"Maybe because there's no more milk in it. Some people preferred it that way." Murphy shrugged and started on the tea.

"How much more fuel for the camper stove is there?"

"Not much." Murphy answered honestly. "Although, I was thinking that now we can get to the barn I should bring in some of that old wood that's in there, we could use it as firewood. Looked like it was dry when I was last out there."

10Kraised an eyebrow. "Won't that draw Zs?"

"Maybe, but it I doubt it would draw many. I could send off anyone that does."

10K tipped the dirty water away and then pulled Murphy to him, the older man went willingly of course. Both still shirtless and smiling.

"You get me half naked and I don't get any attention?" 10K pouted, an expression that made Murphy grin.

"Oh, is that what's wrong?" Murphy began with that bemused expression he often wore as he pulled the younger man closer by the hips. "Poor baby by." With that Murphy pressed his lips to 10K's temple as his arms tightened around his boy. "You're putting more weight on your leg, that's a good sign. You'll be back on rooftops picking off Zs and evil assholes in no time."

10K snuggled into the older man's chest.

"I don't remember the last time I went this long without firing my weapon." He sighed.

Murphy smirked. "Well, you have been firing your-" The boy cut him off.

"Don't. I don't think I could take how bad that joke is."

The blue man just continued to smirk, it was a bad joke he had to admit, but he could see it amused his boy. They drank their tea in a comfortable silence and then headed over to the barn. Only a handful of zombies remained near the farmhouse, the rest had wandered off to up on the ridge and were of little concern; Murphy could deal with them if needs be. It amazed them that the Zs had been such a solid mass and had then all but dispersed over night, maybe something had caught their attention and cleared them away.

Murphy pulled the barn door open with a sharp tug while 10K leant on his crutch, the blue man had shut it after when he'd last been in there to keep Zs from getting stuck in there and turning themselves into some kind of zombie bomb.

"Alright," began 10K as he looked around the dark bard, sun just managed to peek through the wooden roof. "let's see if there is anything interesting in here."

"You do that, I'll get the wood into the house. Best to do that before it rains or the Zs come back."

10K nodded in acknowledgement and pressed a kiss to Murphy's lips before the older man headed over to the large stack of wood dumped in the west corner of the barn. Turned out Murphy was stronger that he looked because he moved the logs as though they were nothing. The boy started to look around when he managed to draw his eyes from Murphy, from what he could tell it was mainly farming tools and parts of a tractor that littered the place and made him be careful of where he stepped; he'd already argued with the barn and lost. There was a dense thud every minute or so thanks to Murphy dropping the wood in a stack on the deck before he took it all into the house.

After a time 10K started to wonder if searching the barn would actually do them any good, was it even worth getting out of bed for? Then he spotted it and beamed.

"Murphy!" He yelled. "Murphy, come see this!"

The blue man charged from the deck into the barn and up to 10K.

"What?" He demanded out of breath and clearly concerned. "What's wrong?"

"Nothing, I'm fine." 10K soothed before he gestured to the large sheet covering something before them. "Check this out."

The younger man ripped away the dusty white sheet away to reveal a car, a Mustang to be exact.

"Oh hell yeah, baby boy!" Murphy laughed and kissed 10K's forehead. "You really are luck on legs, aren't you?"

"You think the keys you found are for this?"

"Maybe." Murphy shrugged. "God I hope this baby runs."

With glee Murphy pulled open hood and... the smile quickly died. No engine.

"Fucking typical." He huffed and glanced over to a huge table covered in tiny pieces of engine. "Yeah, I don't know how to put that back together."

10K huffed and leant a little harder on his crutch. "Well, back to the drawing board."

In hindsight it had been too good to be true. The two just stood there for a moment with a 'seriously' expression on their faces until Murphy took a breath.

"At least it can't get any worse."

10K just looked at him with an unimpressed expression. "You had to say it."

Murphy glanced around the dark barn, half the hay loft caved in and everything creaked almost worryingly. Frankly the thing looked like it could have come down at any moment. Dust scattered through the air and it could have been beautiful had the risk of a cave in not loomed over them.

"Looks like there's nothing else here. Want to go in?"

10K shook his head. "Nah, let's look around once more over there," he gestured over to a pile of scrap and what looked like a small tool room. "Never know, Murphy, might be something."

"Alright."

Murphy followed 10K and the pair did another once over though unfortunately there wasn't anything of interest. Basically just a pile of junk.

"So that was a huge waste of time." Grumbled 10K as they slowly made their way back across the grassy expanse to the back deck. "Totally."

"Not entirely, my boy, I got some firewood. That's something." He shrugged, arms full of the last load of wood.

Once inside Murphy busied himself with piling all the wood up beside the fireplace while 10K vanished off to pee, then clean his beloved rifle. When Murphy finished he strutted into the living room to find 10K perched on the couch with his gun pointed directly at him. Murphy's shot his hands up, eyes wide.

"Whoa, kid!"

"Sorry." He said quickly and let the rifle drop to his lap. "It's not loaded, just checking the scope."

Steadily the boy rested the gun on the couch and pushed himself up with the aid of his crutch however, he hissed in pain and dropped back to the couch. Murphy was by his side in an instant on his knees before the sharpshooter.

"Careful."

"I'm okay, Murphy. Just moved a little too quickly." He flashed the older man a smile. "Although, I do like when you come running and end up on your knees."

Murphy roared with laughter. "Oh, do you now?" Easily Murphy ran his hands up 10K's jean clad thighs teasingly, a lazy smile on his blue lips. 10K just watched with eager anticipation. "Fuck you once and you get all needy. Is that it, baby boy?"

"You saying I'm addicted?"

That lazy smile still covered his face as Murphy stretched upwards and kissed his darling 10K.

"What do you say we open the Scotch tonight, hmm?" Another sultry kiss. "Nice drink by the fire, all warm and cosy like."

The teenager smirked. "Is this you trying to be all romantic?"

"That obvious?" The older man patted 10K's thigh then rose to his feet but paused halfway to press a loving kiss to the boy's mop of black hair. "We've been over this whole place with a fine-tooth comb so I think I'm just going to read. You want me to get you your book?"

10K nodded. "Yeah, please. I don't really know how to be idle but reading helps."

Murphy snorted. "Stick with me, my boy. You'll learn."

With a stupid smile 10K just watched as the older man clambered up the stairs, he couldn't help but chuckle, the man was an idiot.


	9. Chapter 9

10K read until the sun went down and Murphy finished yet another book, that man could devour books when he wanted to, he had to have been reading all that time 10K had been trapped in bed. The whole situation felt really domestic and pleasantly nice, relaxing even, and for a moment the dark-haired teen imagined what it would be like to stay at the farmhouse, forget Murphy was he savior of all mankind and that they had a mission, forget the zombies and just settled down and indulge in some deserved peace for a change. The whole idea was stupid though. Murphy _was_ the savior, they _did_ have a mission. 10K pushed his thoughts deep, deep down along with the mental image he'd built pretty damn fast.

That night they ate the pair ate by the fire that Murphy had built and basked in it's warming orange glow. The heat soothed 10K's aching ankle – he'd over done it a bit in the barn – but leaning into Murphy's side helped. The blue man had kicked his shoes off almost as soon as he'd sat down and the socks hadn't been too far behind, he leant back on his elbows beside the younger man.

The boy found that the fire's glow made Murphy's blue skin appeared grey and ashen but somehow 10K found himself liking it, just another unique quirk of Alvin Murphy. Amusingly, he reminded 10K of a walking and talking black and white photo. There was something vaguely nostalgic about it.

They didn't talk much, just ate and sipped at the Scotch Murphy had found. At first the spirit had burnt 10K's throat but once he'd gotten used to it he started to enjoy the taste and let the flavour dance on his tongue, he could see why Murphy drank. The silence rained until the sharpshooter grew tired of the quietude and broke it.

"What do you think the others are doing?" He asked softly, eyes fixed on the firelight.

A pause.

"Probably searching for you. Vasquez and Warren will be planning how best to reprimand me for getting separated from them, Doc and Addy will have figured out some way of contacting that radio nutter Citizen Z by now no doubt."

"What if they've given up and think we're dead? I wouldn't blame them."

"No." Murphy said assuredly. "Doc would never give up on you. You're the son he never had. They might think I'm dead or ran, which means they'll want a blood sample at the very least.

"They could be dead." As much as 10K didn't want to believe it they could have been.

"Nah, Warren, Doc and Addy are basically unkillable at this point."

"And Vasquez?" Asked the younger man.

"That hunk of muscle? Only his arrogance or his guilt will kill him." Murphy snorted.

10K smiled and took another sip of Scotch. "Tell us what you really think why don't you."

Murphy chuckled. "Honesty is the best policy, my boy." The blue man's eyes raked over 10K, the boy had started to look tipsy. "Do you want some water? Take the edge off that hangover you've got coming."

"Not drunk."

The dark-haired boy's face was a little flush, he knew Murphy was right so did he, that was why the older man laughed.

"Yeah, you are. Never really been drunk before have you?" Murphy couldn't take his eyes from the boy.

10K gestured to himself. "Teenager remember?"

Murphy nodded. "You look ready to pass out, baby boy, I think it's time for bed."

The blue man gathered up the bottle and their plates and set them aside out of the way before he turned his attention back to his boy who really did look like he was going to have a headache in the morning.

"Are you truing to get me into bed?" _Yep, drunk,_ thought Murphy.

"Well, yes but not like that... unfortunately." Murphy wiggled his eyebrows teasingly. "Come on."

Carefully, Murphy picked up 10K from the carpeted floor bridal style – much to the boy's drunken protest – and carried him upstairs into the bedroom, once he'd set 10K down Murphy kissed his boy's forehead with a smile.

"I'll go put out the fire and clean up then I'll join you, alright?"

10K nodded, eyes closed. Sure enough, when Murphy returned the younger man had fallen asleep with his face buried in a pillow. Murphy couldn't help but smile softly at the display before him before he stripped down to his boxers and climbed into bed beside 10K.

XXXX

The sun had just started to peak over the horizon when 10K awoke. There wasn't a single noise so it took him a moment to realise why he'd woken in the first place, soon though, a wave of 'I really need to pee' washed over him and the teenager scurried off to the bathroom, or as much of a scurry as a man on a crutch could manage. When he got back to the bed 10K just stood there for a moment watching Murphy as he slept, the man was on his stomach, head pressed into the pillow and an arm thrown out where 10K had been only a few moments previous; the boy thought it cute.

After a moment Murphy started to squirm and finally awoke, the blue man glanced around until he found 10K. He flashed 10K a smile as he propped himself up on his elbows.

"Thomas, what are you doing?"

"Needed to pee." 10K answered honestly.

Murphy chuckled. "Yeah, I guessed that. I meant why are you staring at me?"

"I'm not." 10K suddenly announced a tad awkwardly before he clambered back into bed.

Almost instantly Murphy wrapped 10K up in his strong arms and pulled him close into his bite covered chest, it was a subconscious action but that didn't stop 10K enjoying it. With the Zs clearing out meant they'd be able to leave as soon as 10K could walk properly and the boy was scared. He wanted to find Doc and their friends but he feared that as soon as they found the others Murphy would turn back into his obnoxious self and he'd go back into his own head, return to that shell he displayed so well. 10K feared that whatever had been happening between the two of them would end and they'd have nothing but a faded memory. Would they be like Murphy and Colin had been? A brief flicker of light extinguished by outside forces to the point they pretended they'd never met. 10K did his best not to dwell on that and closed his blue eyes, sleep didn't take him so 10K ended up counting zombie sheep until he passed out once again.

XXXX

When Murphy awoke on a morning a few days later it was to 10K strutting back and forth at the bottom of the bed he'd taken to referring to as 'their bed'. Murphy flipped over and propped himself up with one arm

"Baby boy, what cha doing?" Murphy raised an eyebrow as he watched.

The boy didn't stop his pacing but he did look over at the older man.

"Testing my leg. It still hurts a little but I don't think I need the crutch anymore, I got all the way to the bathroom yesterday before I realised I wasn't using it."

Murphy smiled. "That's great, 10K. Told you all you needed was to stay off it a while."

Having decided he'd done pacing the sharpshooter slipped back into bed and instantly straddled the blue man with a grin.

"Yeah, yeah, you're always right about everything." 10K teased lovingly.

Murphy smirked. "Finally, someone realises it."

10K rolled his eyes and swatted the elder man's arm before he leant in for a kiss; Murphy's lips were a little dry but the boy didn't care.

"You do realise that if I can walk again you can't refuse to let us leave and find the others."

Murphy sighed. He'd just stay there with his boy forever if he could get away with it, just the two of them living the quiet domestic life.

"I know. Doesn't mean I want to leave though." He grumbled.

10K teased with the spatter of dark hair on Murphy's chest as he spoke. "We've been gone what? A month? They probably think we're dead, we have to find them."

"I like it here with you. Just us, it's nice." Murphy admitted as he stole another kiss from his baby boy. "And this place is safe."

"Murphy, we have a mission." 10K reminded.

"A mission that's going to kill me and probably fail anyway!" He suddenly yelled which shocked the both of them, 10K even jumped as the blue man continued to growl and shout. "A mission that wants me to march bloody blindly into being a lab rat yet a-fucking-gain! A mission that won't be happy until I've been drained of every last drop of blood and tossed in the nearest furnace. Savior of all mankind my ass!" 10K tried to shift off the older man but Murphy's grip on him was too tight and kept him in place. "No one is going to remember me or care. The only person to be remembered will be that goddamn bitch of a doctor for figuring it out. I'm the Guinea Pig! I'm the unimportant one, just some ex-con that turned blue!" Suddenly all the anger drained away and that loving expression returned to his unique eyes. "Why should we have to keep going with that? Why should we all have to keep walking into death on an almost hourly basis? Why, when we could be here, happy and together? Just you and me. We wouldn't bother anyone, we cold live here quite happily. Wouldn't that be better?"

Everything was quiet for a moment and then 10K shuffled closer so he could cuddle into the blue man's chest. Murphy just hung there looking dejected but he clung to his boy. 10K could have easily yelled or just put a gun to Murphy's head to make him leave but he chose not to – it might have been easier but wouldn't have been better – instead, he took one of the blue man's hands into his own and stared at it as he spoke ever so softly.

"We have to try. Yes, we could live here... but what about everyone else? What about the scared kids left in the apocalypse? Don't they deserve a chance too?" 10K cupped the older man's cheek. "I've learnt who you really are since we came here, yeah, you're cocky and never know when to shut up but you're a good man. You hide it well but I know you are. If you weren't whatever is happening between us wouldn't have happened." 10K leant in and pressed a kiss to Murphy's blue lips. "We have to go to California, Murphy. Have to find the others too. And I won't let anything happen to you if that's what scares you, we'll make it a condition, doctors can only go near you if I'm there... armed to the teeth." Both men sorted at that. "You've been protecting me this entire time, and when we get to the lab it'll be my turn to protect you. But we have to leave, okay?"

It took a long moment but eventuality Murphy reluctantly nodded.

"Guess if I live we could always come back." He grumbled to himself.

"Of course we could, and you're not going to die, Murphy. I won't let you."

Murphy smiled softly up at 10K with such love in his eyes, his arms tightened around the sharpshooter and then he pressed their lips together once again. It was one of those emotion filled kisses, the gentle ones that made everything better.

"You're too good for me, you know that, baby boy?"

10K flashed Murphy a grin and let the older man pull him to his naked chest; wrapped up in warmth and utter comfort.

"Maybe, but I'm yours anyway."

The pair were quiet for a long time after that just cradled in one another's arms until 10K finally broke the silence, his voice a little laced in sleep.

"It's raining, we'll leave tomorrow."

Reluctantly Murphy nodded, his darling boy was right. "Alright." He muttered.

"And would you please tell me what we are?"

10K's question confused Murphy, his brow furrowed as his head tilted to the side in puzzlement. It wasn't a question the blue man had ever expected, for a moment he didn't know how to answer it.

"What do you mean?"

10K sighed. "Are we dating? Is that the right word? We've not been on a date, I've _never_ been on a date. What are we, Murphy?"

With that all the boy's teenage insecurities shone though to the surface and it all clicked for Murphy who couldn't stop himself smiling softly. The blue man thought to himself, he'd not wondered what they were before, they'd just been _them_ to him.

"We're together. Let's just call it that. I'm too old to be a boyfriend I think, so let's just call it what it is. Together, it's what we are, we wake up together, we joke and think our way out of problems together, we have sex together. We're happy together. So-"

10K cut him off with a little half smile and a delicate kiss. It amazed Murphy how quickly 10K had picked the skill of kissing up.

"We're together, I like that."

They kissed again, Murphy still smelt of cinnamon but 10K couldn't bring himself to care in that moment. They fell back against the pillows and everything was perfect, thoughts of their mission and the rain outside forgotten.


	10. Chapter 10

The next day came and thankfully the rain had departed so as the pair could leave the farmhouse they'd called home for almost a month. Sun dominated the sky again and all was well. It really hadn't taken long for them to pack up and take off, Murphy had siphoned most of the water into any and all bottles they'd found, they'd split the load between them along with what food they had left. Their bags were heavy and of course Murphy insisted on carrying 10K's for much of their journey because of the boy's ankle but when it actually came time to leave both were reluctant. The blue man and 10K just stood there staring at the open front door, both wanted to stay but 10K had been right, they had to try.

It was Murphy to step out into the sun first which actually shocked him. Once down the stairs he turned back to 10K and flashed him a smile.

"Let's get this over with. Yeah? Sooner we leave, sooner we can come back."

Murphy held out his hand for the younger man to take and after a moment he did.

The unlikely couple made good progress, it was hot but they had a good supply of water between them. It took the better part of the day to get back to where they'd lost the others, before they'd been running and hadn't really registered just how far they'd travelled. As expected the place was void of the rest of Delta X-ray Delta, only a few Zs littered the area and 10K took pleasure in quickly dispatching them despite the fact it probably would have been quicker and easier for Murphy to just do his thing. The blue man just stared at the dead, rotting bodies of the zombies the group had killed their first time through, in a way it almost looked as though Addy, Doc and the others had been there only moments earlier.

After about an hour of raking over the area for anything useful or maybe a note from their friends – which had resulted it fuck all – the pair decided to clamber up onto the roof of a stable looking building via the fire escape; it looked like it had once been a coffee shop of some sort. They'd decided where to head next in the morning, Murphy was grateful for the early night because his back killed from carrying all that water.

"How did you get so good with that?" Murphy asked once they'd set up camp and he'd slumped down into his bed roll; 10K had perched himself over in the far corner with his beloved rifle.

"I've killed a lot of zombies." He answered simply. "Kinda why my name is 10K."

Murphy got up then and strutted over to the younger man so he could snake his arms around the boy and cuddled him close, 10K leant back into Murphy's warm chest.

"No, I certainly didn't, Thomas." The blue man grinned into his cheek before he kissed it. "You do know if you shoot whatever Z you can see in that scope of yours you're just going to draw more attention."

10K shrugged. "Not really, anyway, I need to practice. You should get some sleep, I'll take first watch."

"Or you could let me cuddle you." Murphy tightened his grip on the younger man.

10K breathed out a laugh. "Tempting, but one of us needs to be on watch.

"Nope, I'll sense if any Zs come a-knocking. Why do you think we've been sleeping together for a month without any deadites breaking in?"

The boy spun around in the older man's arms with a teasing smirk.

"Because the sex is really good."

Murphy didn't appear impressed but still started to subtly shift 10K backwards towards their bed roll, the boy went willingly.

"Oh, ha ha, very funny. Just come to bed." He took the opportunity to kiss his little sharpshooter.

"Fine."

Only a tad reluctantly 10K set his weapon down where he'd be able to grab it easily if needed and let Murphy pull him into the bed they'd set up in the back corner away from the fire escape. They missed the big farmhouse bed with it's mattress and soft pillows but at least that had one another. Murphy instantly snaked his arm around 10K and snuggled him close. The two lay there staring up at the stars for a time, it was beautiful, not a cloud in the sky, just stars.

"Well, this is kind of romantic don't you think?"

"Totally, now all we need is some candles and a bottle of lube." Smirked the younger man.

Murphy roared with laughter and pulled his darling 10K closer until the boy was practically half on top of him.

"I love you, Thomas."

"Good." The boy grinned. "Someone has to. I love you too, you dumb blue bastard." A pause hung between them for a few seconds, light and sweet. "Do you think we'll find them?"

"Of course, they'd never give up on you. Especially Doc. We've had this conversation several times before. They'll never give up on you."

They settled down and closed their eyes, just when Murphy thought his baby boy had slipped into slumber he shop and sliced through the silence.

"They're going to kill us for being gone so long."

"Oh yeah, Warren will take any chance she can get to kick my ass. Sleep now, my boy."

Murphy kissed the top of 10K's head and let sleep take him.

When 10K awoke several hours later he found his side strangely void of Murphy and his delectable warmth, with an instantaneous surge of fear the boy sat bolt upright, cerulean eyes wide as they searched the older man out. He wasn't on the roof but when 10K looked down to the street he fortunately spotted Murphy with a lone Z, 10K watched as Murphy took the zombie's hat and placed it on his own head before sending the deadite off to God only knew where, as soon as it had wandered far enough away 10K called down to his... whatever Murphy was; they were together but that didn't really give him a name, partner? It didn't really matter in that moment.

"Happy now you have a stupid hat again?" He smiled when Murphy looked up.

Murphy made a show of straightening that black hat which had 10K smirking and then he raced up the fire escape to sit with his boy on the bed roll.

"I do love me a fedora. Dashingly sexy, yeah?" He wiggled his eyebrows.

"Sure, dashing." With that the younger man leant in and kissed Murphy. "I love you."

Murphy swelled with pride and happiness, he'd told 10K he loved him several times before but 10K had only said it once and that had only been in return of Murphy's own decoration. The older man beamed as a hand ran through 10K's messy black hair.

"I love you too, Thomas."

The pair sat there a time with lazy smiles on their faces until the world returned to them and 10K broke the comfortable silence.

"We should get going."

"Or we could stay here and fuck." Suggested Murphy with his best alluring expression.

10K hummed, as much as he'd have enjoyed giving in to that they couldn't.

"Maybe later, I'd like to be able to walk straight today thanks." He pressed a quick kiss to Murphy's blue lips and then started to pack away their things. "Come on, pack up and let's go."

Murphy saluted. "Yes, Sir."

They made quick work of packing away their things back into the bags then took a few minutes to have breakfast, it wasn't like the breakfasts they'd been sharing at the farmhouse all relaxed and gentle, this was just down some water and munch a cereal bar.

To be honest when they did leave they were just guessing as to where their friends were, the gang could have been literally anywhere but heading towards California made the most sense. 10K knew Murphy didn't especially care, he'd wanted to stay at the house and quite frankly 10K didn't blame him but the blue man knew it mattered to his boy.

They didn't find their friends that day or the next, or the day after that.


	11. Chapter 11

"You sure we're going the right way? We've not seen any sign of them yet and it's been weeks." Complained Murphy as they wandered down and old open road.

Grass and trees were high on either side of them, the road seemed to stretch on forever and every few miles there would be another derelict vehicle that had absolutely no value to them; batteries dead, tires rusted and flat.

"This way is California so it's our best bet. If they were dead we'd have found them by now. We have to be going the right way."

Murphy paused for a moment in the middle of the dusty road and just watched as his darling boy carried on, weeks they'd been searching for the others and they'd been inside that farmhouse around a month, he knew they may never find their friends but he'd never stop looking; for 10K.

"Alright, Thomas. Lead the way." The blue man started to walk again.

Murphy knew that 10K would take him to the lab himself if he had to but Murphy prayed they did find the others, 10K didn't deserve to be alone after whatever happened to Murphy in California happened. Murphy had so many reservations but he kept them to himself.

That night they sat around a small fire that 10K had quickly built beside an old burnt out car, too little room and the colder weather had made Murphy grumpy in a matter of seconds. He wanted to go back to the farmhouse, he'd started to feel like those wonderful days waking up with 10K in his arms were all a distant memory, but then when slumber started to take him 10K rested his head against Murphy's shoulder and told him he loved him. In a way it was like the boy could read his thoughts, knew when he longed for the peace and bliss of them being together more than usual. Oh, how he loved his sweet Thomas.

Almost two weeks later the two men found themselves atop a suspiciously creaky bridge that overlooked a small river – little more than a stream – and two vast fields on either side. 10K slowly lead the way across the small bridge dodging cars and checking for Zs until something caught Murphy's eye off in the tree line; he paused.

"Baby boy, can I borrow your rifle?"

10K raised an eyebrow but handed it over without issue.

"Em, okay."

Murphy nodded his thanks. It was heavier than he remembered but the blue man said nothing about it, just raised the weapon so he could peer down the scope. Everything was quiet for a moment and then it was like Christmas had come early, he grinned there almost hidden by the far off trees was bold red hair that he knew very well; Addy.

Murphy grinned, beside the redhead was a skinny figure he quickly recognised as Doc and his heart swelled, his boy was going to be so happy.

"What is it?" Asked 10K.

Murphy passed the rifle back and gestured over to the section of tree line where he'd seen them, smile still on his face.

"Over there, our eleven o'clock."

There was a spilt second of silence where 10K looked down the scope and then the boy irrupted with a smile as well.

"Doc!" So much happiness flooded 10K's voice.

The blue man adored hearing how happy his boy was, 10K wouldn't ever be alone as long as he had Doc.

"They'll be gone by the time we get down there but at lease we know where they're going. We just have to catch up."

"Nah, I've got a better idea. Let's make them know we're here."

Before Murphy could ask what the boy meant 10K fired the rifle planting a bullet a few into a tree a few inches above Addy's head. Of course Doc and Addy jumped, instantly took cover and probably referred to the shooter as assholes. 10K watched and saw what he assumed was Warren hand Addy the scope she always carried with her.

"Wave your arms in the air." 10K ordered.

"Em, okay."

Murphy obeyed hoping the others would see them while 10K continued to watch.

"They see us? I look like an idiot."

"You're blue, you look like a Smurf." Said the boy offhandedly. "They still don't see us, you think I should fire again?"

"No," Murphy shook his head "If they're looking you might make them scatter. We-"

"Wait!" Yelled 10K with excitement and frankly the suspense was killing Murphy; as was the arm waving. "Addy sees us!"

10K watched as the redhead stood and left cover to get a better look at the two people up on the bridge, she'd not quite been able to tell who 10K was, not until she'd spotted blue skin. Murphy.

"And? Baby boy, you gotta give me a commentary or something."

"She's saying something but I can't tell what or two who."

Just then Warren and Vasquez appeared from behind the thick trees and out into the field beside Addy and Doc, she took the scope back and looked through it herself.

"Can I put my arms down yet?" Asked Murphy with a huff."

10K didn't say a word, just nodded and in an instant Murphy let his arms drop to his sides with a dull thud. He adjusted his fedora and squinted to better see the rest of Delta X-ray Delta, it didn't do much good at that distance – at least half a football field – but still he squinted. It didn't matter how blurry the others were, he saw when Doc started jumping up and down, waving his arms and yelling out to them.

"Told you Doc wouldn't give up on you, my boy."

"They're heading this way. I'll be quicker to go back the way we came and cut across the field."

Murphy loved how excited 10K sounded. He watched as the boy threw his rifle over his shoulder and beamed happily, he turned to race off back the way they'd come but stopped, spun around and kissed the blue man.

"Good eye, Murphy."

"Thanks. I take it my boy is happy." Murphy couldn't resist snaking his arms loosely around 10K's waist as a lazy smile pulled its way onto his face.

"I think I am, yeah." They kissed again, soft and gentle, then the sharpshooter snuggled into Murphy's strong chest. "When we're done at the lab we'll go back to the farmhouse. I promise. Maybe find some chickens or something too."

Murphy raised an eyebrow at that.

"Oh, you know how to take care of chickens now do you?"

10K slapped Murphy's chest playfully. "I can learn, idiot."

Murphy chuckled. "I'm sure you can, baby boy. I love you, Thomas."

"I love you too, Murphy." He breathed the older man in a moment. "You still smell like cinnamon." Said 10K into Murphy's chest.

"Sorry, I can't seem to get rid of it. I know you hate it."

"No, not anymore."

Unbeknownst to the pair Warren was still watching them via her scope and huffed out a laugh that caught Doc's attention. The white-haired man tilted his head in puzzlement.

"What is it, Warren? They alright?"

"Oh, they're fine." She smirked. "Seems they finally figured out they'd rather be banging than threatening one another."

"About damn time." Mumbled Addy as they started to make their way back across the field.

They'd found their friends, they were safe. They'd found each other, they were loved.

THE END


End file.
